Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, today reacted with sorrow to the death of Jutta Limbach, Germany’s former chief justice and a long-time head of the Goethe Institute, who passed away Saturday at the age of 82.
Jutta Limbach was the first woman to preside over of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany and, until her passing, chaired the Limbach Commission (officially named the Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, in particular Jewish property).
Ronald S. Lauder declared: “Germany has lost a formidable and strong-willed woman who helped enormously to enhance her country’s good reputation at home and abroad, and who held very influential positions. My heartfelt condolences go out to her husband Peter, and her children.
“About 15 years ago, Mrs. Limbach was one of the initiators of a new association to preserve the memory of an important institution in pre-war Berlin, the Jewish Orphanage Pankow, which was shut down by the Nazis in 1940. She was also very involved in promoting Christian-Jewish dialog.
“In the work of the Commission named after her, Jutta Limbach was personally always beyond reproach and she showed enormous competence in dealing with art restitution cases put before her and the Commission. Current thoughts to reform this Commission to be more open, transparent and effective would be a fitting legacy to her work.
“As the granddaughter of a Social Democratic lawmaker who opposed the Nazis, and as a former justice senator in Berlin and German chief justice, she was what is colloquially called a ‘tough cookie’, and she showed what is possible by being tenacious and hard-working,” Lauder said.
Photo: Detlev Schilke
