The headquarters of the German Jewish community will follow the government from Bonn to Berlin, though the move will not take place for another four to five years, community officials said this week.
The Bundestag decided on June 20 to make Berlin the capital of unified Germany, restoring the Prussian city to the status it had before World War II.
Bonn, a university town not far from the Dutch border, became the capital of the West German Federal Republic when it was formed in 1949. Berlin remained a divided city, the eastern part serving as capital of the German Democratic Republic.
Jewish officials said no formal decision has been made yet, but “obviously” the headquarters of German Jewry should be located where the government and parliament operate.
That includes the community’s weekly newspaper, Judische Allgemeine, which was moved to Bonn from Dusseldorf five years ago.
The Jewish community presently occupies a small residential building in suburban Bad Godesberg, in which it invested over $550,000 to renovate.
The building is expected to be sold when the community shifts to Berlin, along with scores of embassies, political and economic organizations and other institutions.
The Jewish population of Berlin, currently estimated at about 8,000, is expected to grow. The municipality reported recently that scores of Jewish families eligible to regain property taken by the Nazis or later by the East German Communist regime are likely to settle in Berlin.
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