Explosive case
Sontural Nazi victim sues Sparkasse: Where is the money of the Jew Simson Cohn?
The great-grandson of a Nazi victim wants to know from the Sparkasse where his great-grandfather’s money has remained. But the bank blocks. The OLG Hamm has now decided.
The Higher Regional Court of Hamm decided in a explosive case: In the 1930s, the Nazis acquired an account of the Jewish butcher Simon Cohn. His great -grandson Marc Bensghir now wanted to know what happened to the equivalent of around 400,000 euros. The Sparkasse to Volme and Ruhr in Hagen, where the account was running, refused to publish information.
The Higher Regional Court of Hamm ruled on Wednesday. The legacy of the Jewish family from Hagen is no longer entitled to the account that his ancestors had during the Nazi dictatorship. All claims have been statute-barred since the 1970s.
The legislator has been so long that victims of the National Socialist tyranny had had a “fair chance” to make their claims in good time, the judges decided. The judgment is not yet final. The Senate has not approved a revision – but a non -admission complaint is possible.
The plaintiff wants to appeal
“It’s an absurdity,” plaintiff Marc Bensghir told that star. “To justify the judgment with limitation is not possible in the case. Why? I only knew about the account since 2019.” Up to this point, the banks would have held him and lied to him, said Benseghir.
“In my opinion, the burden of proof was reversed. It is no longer with me, it is with the bank.” He now wanted to appeal. “We just have to go through the other instances. Up to the Federal Court of Justice in case of doubt.”
Sparkasse to Volme and Ruhr welcomes judgment
Why the Sparkasse to Volme and Ruhr Benseghir does not simply give the information remains unclear. Dem star A spokesman for the bank said: “All existing documents relating to the account 4409 were already presented by the Sparkasse in the process before the Hagen district court.”
The plaintiff had accused the Sparkasse on Volme and Ruhr several times to have claimed false facts in terms of the existence of the account. The bank said: “The Sparkasse never claimed false facts. The lecture corresponded to the current state of knowledge.”
The judgment of the Higher Regional Court Hamm is welcomed: The judges of the OLG Hamm would have confirmed the legal opinion of the bank and that of the Hagen Regional Court in their preliminary evaluation and now again.
“The case must be informed”
“We consider the demand that the files about Jewish accounts from the Nazi era are absolutely correct. The case has to be informed,” says Zwi Rappoport, Chairman of the State Association of the Jewish Communities of Westphalia-Lippe. Hamm belongs to his area of responsibility.
“It is strange that the Sparkasse Hagen does not take into account the historical dimension of its culpable entanglement in the Nazi regime,” says Rappoport star. The descendants of the victims had been drawn up formal juristically. It should be hoped that an appellate court will meet historical responsibility.
“In this respect, the plaintiffs have to happen that they are at least given the opportunity to clarify the facts,” demands Rappoport. “This should also be in the interest of the general public.”
With material of the dpa
Source: Stern
