August 25, 2005
The Central Council of Jews in Germany (Zentralrat) has decided to appeal court rulings which redirected some government funds to Liberal Jewish communities. The Council's secretary general Stephan Kramer told the media that the umbrella organization would go to the Constitutional Court, Germany's highest tribunal, to dispute court rulings that allowed payments to Liberal communities which are not members of the Zentralrat. Kramer said that courts of law should not have jurisdiction over the use of funds paid to the Jewish community on the basis of a treaty between the Zentralrat and the State. Some Liberal Jewish communities organized in the World Union of Progressive Jewry dispute the Zentralrat's claim to be the sole representative of Jews in Germany.
