Out after 85 years

Bought during the Nazi era: Family must return house

The ruling by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig means that an 84-year-old woman loses her house.

(Bild: APA/dpa/Waltraud Grubitzsch)

A family lived in their house in the German state of Brandenburg for 85 years, but now it's over. Because the property had previously belonged to two Jewish women who were forced to sell it by the Nazis, the house must now be returned.

The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig ruled that the property will be transferred back to the Jewish Claims Conference (JCC). This ends a long-running legal dispute and the ruling is legally binding.

Owners were murdered in Auschwitz
The property originally belonged to the Jewish women Alice Donat and Helene Lindenbaum, who acquired it in 1932 and ran a vacation home for Jewish children. In 1939, they were forced to sell it by the National Socialist regime.

Both women were later murdered in Auschwitz. The grandfather of the current resident bought the property from an estate agent in the same year.

The retransfer is based on the 1990 "Law on the Settlement of Unresolved Property Issues", which regulates the losses of Jewish victims of National Socialism in East Germany. In cases where the original owners were unable to assert claims, the JCC acts as the legal successor.

Resident: "A world is falling apart for me"
For the current resident, an 84-year-old woman, and her 61-year-old son, the decision means losing their home. "A world is falling apart for me," said the applicant. "I've spent my whole life here." Her son explained: "We are faced with nothing. We don't know where to go."

Probably one of the last restitution cases
However, the JCC offered the claimant a lifelong right of residence. It remains to be seen how the case will be settled. The family's lawyer announced that they would await the written reasons for the judgment and consider a possible constitutional complaint.

The case is considered to be one of the last restitution cases in the context of Nazi injustice in Brandenburg - possibly even in the whole of Germany.