A German judge has rejected a final appeal in a landmark Nazi-era property case, ordering an 85-year-old woman and her son to surrender their $1.6 million Berlin suburban home that was forcibly purchased from Jewish owners in 1939 for a pittance.
After a decade-long legal battle, the judge dismissed arguments by the family's Munich-based lawyer, Raffael Nath, who attempted to use a legal loophole claiming his client had purchased rather than inherited the property. The court maintained that property taken from Jews under Nazi duress cannot be legally inherited, regardless of subsequent transactions.
The property in Wandlitz, originally a Jewish orphanage run by educators Alice Donat and Helene Lindenbaum, was sold under Nazi pressure to Felix Moegelin for 21,100 Reichsmarks. Both women later perished in Auschwitz. Today, Moegelin's granddaughter Gabriele Lieske and her son Thomas occupy the home.
"What the judge did was completely unremarkable," said Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference. "This is established principle in law that has been in place since the end of the war. A forced sale is not valid and that which was taken must be returned."
The Claims Conference, which will receive the property as no living heirs were found, has offered to let Lieske remain as a tenant for life. Reportedly, she has declined due to rent requirements and restrictions on her son's future residency.
The organization uses proceeds from such properties to support Holocaust survivors with medical care and housing assistance.
JTA contributed to this article.
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