Lost Information and Competing Interests in Restoring Germany's Dispossessed Property – The Recent Decision of the German Federal Administrative Court

Hanri Mostert

doi:10.1017/S2071832200012219

Lost Information and Competing Interests in Restoring Germany's Dispossessed Property – The Recent Decision of the German Federal Administrative Court

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2019

Hanri Mostert

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With the progressive “accession” of the German Democratic Republic to the Federal German Republic after the reunification in 1990, Germany had to deal with a number of impediments emanating from the attempt to reconcile different political, social and legal models that developed during the forty years of separation between East and West Germany. Among these was the issue of how the property order in Germany would be influenced by seeking to integrate two such different socio-political and legal systems. As the discussion below indicates, the demands placed by this issue on the courts, legislature and administration of the newly reunified Federal German Republic still cause repercussions.

Type: Public Law
Information: German Law Journal , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , 01 January 2004 , pp. 1 - 13

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2071832200012219 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © 2004 by German Law Journal GbR

References

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²⁴ E.g. where an investment priority decision or investment certificate had been granted. In such cases, the right to restitution was overridden. C.E. Scollo-Lavizzari Restitution of Land Rights in an Administrative Law Environment – The German and South African Prodedures Compared, LL M Research Dissertation, University of Cape Town, (1996) at 45-50; M. Southern Restitution or Compensation: The Land Question in East Germany 1993 Int. & Comp. L.Q 690 at 695.Google Scholar

²⁵ § 30a of the Property Act.Google Scholar

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³² § 22-26 of the Property Act.Google Scholar

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³⁴ Southern, M. Restitution or Compensation: The Land Question in East Germany 1993 Int. & Comp. L.Q 690 at 696 provide interesting statistics as to the number of applications (said to have exceeded 1,1 million, of which 30 500 related to land and buildings, rather than businesses). In 1993, according to this source, only 8,5% of the land claims had been finalised, and it was speculated that the issue would take another 30 years to resolve.Google Scholar

³⁵ Fieberg, G. Legislation and Judicial Practice in Germany: Landmarks and Central Issues in the Property Question in Rwelamira, M.R. & Werle, G. (eds) Confronting Past Injustices – Approaches to Amnesty, Punishment, Reparation and Restitution in South Africa and Germany, Durban, Butterworths, (1996) at 88.Google Scholar

³⁶ Decision of 23 October 2003, BverwG 7 C 62.02; VG 31 A 371.99.Google Scholar

³⁷ A more detailed version of the background to the case is contained in par I of the decision (note 36 above).Google Scholar

³⁸ This included expropriation of land for the building of cities and development of belowstructure; for industrial settlements, energy management and for military purposes. Visser, D. & Roux, T. Giving back the Country: South Africa's Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994 in Context in Rwelamira, R.W. & Werle, G. (eds) Confronting Past Injustices – Approaches to Amnesty, Punishment, Reparation and Restitution in South Africa and Germany, Durban, Butterworths, (1996) at 100.Google Scholar

³⁹ Quint, P.E. The Imperfect Union – Constitutional Structures of German Unification, Princeton, Princeton Univ. Press, (1997) at 124.Google Scholar

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⁴¹ Das, S. Pries Neubauerneigentum in der ehemaligen DDR, Frankfurt am Main, Lang, (1993) at 120-121.Google Scholar

⁴² Fieberg, G. Legislation and Judicial Practice in Germany: Landmarks and Central Issues in the Property Question in Rwelamira, M.R. & Werle, G. (eds) Confronting Past Injustices – Approaches to Amnesty, Punishment, Reparation and Restitution in South Africa and Germany, Durban, Butterworths, (1996) at 82.Google Scholar

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⁴⁴ See in general Southern, M. Restitution or Compensation: The Land Question in East Germany 1993 Int. & Comp. L.Q 690 at 696 and the statistics provided by this source, mentioned in note 34 above.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ For an overview of the situation, see M. Southern Restitution or Compensation: The Land Question in East Germany 1993 Int. & Comp. L.Q 690ff. and P.E. Quint The Imperfect Union – Constitutional Structures of German Unification, Princeton, Princeton Univ. Press, (1997) at 124ff.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ § 2 (1) of the Property Act.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ See the consideration of this aspect in par I of the Federal Administrative Court's decision (note 36 above).Google Scholar

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⁴⁹ The details of the decision of the Berlin Administrative Court of 27 September 2002, in as far as they are relevant to the present case, are contained in par I of the Federal Administrative Court's decision.Google Scholar

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⁵¹ See par II of the Federal Administrative Court's decision (note 36 above).Google Scholar

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⁵³ See par II (1) of the decision (note 36 above).Google Scholar

⁵⁴ These objectives are articulated by the Court in par II (1) (a) of the decision (note 36 above).Google Scholar

⁵⁵ The court quotes the decisions of 24 June 1999 – BVerwG 7 C 20.98 and BVerwGE 109, 169 at 172 as authority.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ See par II (1) (a) of the decision (note 36 above), and the authority quoted: Decision of 5 Oct. 2000 -BVerwG 7 C 8.00 – Buchholz 428 § 30 VermG No. 21.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ In essence, a joint reading of these provisions of the Property Act indicates the prerequisites for restitution in terms of the Act, providing for the type of claims to be considered and the cut-off date for lodging of such claims.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ See par II (1) (a) of the decision (note 36 above).Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Id.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ See par II (2) (c) of the decision.Google Scholar

⁶¹ See the court's reliance on BVerfGE 78, 20 at 24; BVerwG decision of 18 May 1995 – BVerwG 7 C 19.94 – Buchholz 428 § 1 VermG No. 44 p. 117.Google Scholar

⁶² See par II (2) (c) of the decision.Google Scholar

⁶³ See par II (1) (a) of the decision.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ § 2 (1) (3) of the Property Act.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Par II (1) (b) of the decision (note 36 above).Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Id.Google Scholar

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⁶⁸ Here the court relies on its previous decision of 24 June 1999 – BVerwG 7 C 20.98 – BVerwGE 109, 169 at 172.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ The so-called “Anmeldung 3“. The Conference's claim was structured in three parts, the first two of which did not pass the scrutiny of the court, the first because of the very general nature in which it was phrased, and the second because of the element of chance in respect of its assumption of Jewish property which was built into the claim. See par I and II (2) (a) and (b) of the decision (note 36 above).Google Scholar

⁷⁰ See par II (2) (c) of the decision (note 36 above).Google Scholar

⁷¹ Id.Google Scholar

⁷² Id.Google Scholar

⁷³ Id.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ Id.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Par II (3) of the decision (note 36 above).Google Scholar

⁷⁶ Id.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Id.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ Id.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Id.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Id.Google Scholar