A German court has ruled that property owned by Nazi war criminals and their supporters which was expropriated by Soviet occupation forces after World War II should not be returned to their former owners.
I.G. Farben Company, the manufacturer of Zyklon B gas that was used to kill Jews and others in Nazi concentration camps, was among the 589 companies and 954 individuals affected by the ruling Monday by Germany’s Federal Administrative Court.
The real estate expropriated by the Soviets between 1945 and 1949 has an estimated value of $26 billion.
The court’s decision has no bearing on the property claims of Jewish Nazi war victims, said Sol Kagan, executive vice president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Jewish property claims fall under a separate provision of the property restitution law that was enacted in 1990 after German reunification, Kagan said.
Monday’s ruling, which coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Allied bombing of Dresden, stirred the emotions of some Germans, who were concerned that the properties would be given back in the wake of recent lenient court rulings involving neo-Nazis.
Just before the judge in the case announced the decision, two young people unfurled a banner in the courtroom and chanted: “I.G. Auschwitz Here and Today. The Murderers Want Their Spoils.”
The protesters were ushered out of the courtroom.
Monday’s ruling involved only two specific property-restitution cases – – involving a printing house and a department store — but is expected to serve as a precedent for all the other cases.
Lawyers representing some of the claimants said they had not yet decided whether they would appeal the case.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
