Wiesenthal Center Strongly Condemns Ruling Of German Federal Administrative Court That Heirs Of Veteran Nazis Be Granted Restitution For Property Confiscated As Punishment After World War II

October 20, 2006

Wiesenthal Center  Strongly  Condemns  Ruling  Of German  Federal  Administrative  Court  That Heirs Of Veteran Nazis Be Granted Restitution For Property Confiscated As Punishment After World War II

The Simon Wiesenthal Center today strongly condemned the ruling issued yesterday by the German Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig which granted significant financial restitution to the son of a Nazi official whose property  had been confiscated after the World War II in punishment for his active support of the Nazi regime.

The person in question, Karl Krasting  joined the Nazi party in 1930. From 1931 until 1934 he was a party judge in a regional district, and later served as an official who helped decide  local policy, a member of the Nazis' lawyer association and director of the office for legal affairs of the NSDAP on the same level. Yet according to the deision rendered yesterday in the the 3rd Senate of the Federal Administrative Court
by Judge Dieter Kley, Krasting did not "actively" support the Nazi regime, paving the way for his son to receive compensation.

"This verdict clearly  minimizes the criminal responsibility of those who actively  supported the Nazis before and after the takeover of power,“ said Dr.Efraim Zuroff, the Center's chief Nazi-hunter in a statement issued today in Israel and Germany.

According to Zuroff:

"The fact that Krasting volunteered and worked without a salary for the NSDAP is clear proof of his ideological and active support for the Nazis, in direct contradiction of the court's decision.This verdict sends an absolutely disastrous message in terms of its presentation of the historical events of the Third Reich which are being severely distorted."
 
In 1948, the Soviet military confiscated two houses belonging to Krasting in Dippoldiswalde/Saxonia. His son Wolf-Achim Krasting called for  restitution. But the city of Dresden and the local administrative court initially refused the claim. The recent decision of the Federal Court has extremely significant implications. In Saxonia alone, there are already about 5500 similar cases pending.

 "If people like Krasting did not "actively" support the Nazi regime, then who did? Were the crimes of the Third Reich committed by ghosts?" Zuroff added.

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