Compensation row: German court rules in favor of Wertheim family

The Berlin Administrative Court has ruled that German retail group KarstadtQuelle must pay restitution to the Wertheim family for part of the properties the latter was forced to sell under the Nazis. In one of the largest unsettled Jewish claims from the Holocaust, the family is believed to be seeking a total of about € 145 million (US$ 191.6 million) in damages from KarstadtQuelle, which now owns part of the disputed real estate. The court was ruling on a small portion of that property. Lawyers for the Jewish family's heirs said the property in question was valued at about € 17 million. The Wertheim family has said it believes the ruling could set a precedent for other disputed Karstadt-owned real estate. Six other former Wertheim properties, owned mostly by the German government, are currently the object of settlement talks handled by the Jewish Claims Conference.