A small Orthodox congregation in the former East Berlin has been recognized by a local court as the same community that was founded in 1885, giving it the chance to repossess valuable real estate in the city.
As a result of the ruling last week by an administrative court, the 260-member Adass Jisroel community not only could repossess property that has been at the center of a controversy between the Jewish communities of the former East and West Berlin but can also ask for government subsidies.
Adass Jisroel existed until it was shut down by the Nazis in 1939. But the community, which is located in the heart of the Jewish section in the former East Berlin, did not resurrect itself until 1986.
Because of this hiatus, Heinz Galinski, the late chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, had argued along with Berlin city officials that the group was in fact a new community and therefore not entitled to reclaim what has now become valuable real estate in the heart of the former East Berlin.
But the directors of Adass Jisroel filed suit against the Berlin municipality and will now profit from the court decision.
Matthias Thilo, director of the city’s cultural administration in charge of church-state issues, said it was unclear whether Adass Jisroel will receive public funding soon, adding that the community must first provide the government with a detailed financial statement of its activities.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
