GERMAN CLAIMS

East German property claims are claims filed pursuant to the German Property Law (Vermögensgesetz) enacted by reunified Germany in 1990. Claims involve property such as real estate, businesses, and personal property (bank accounts, jewelry, art, ect.). The deadline for filing real estate and business claims was December 31, 1992. The deadline for filing personal property claims was June 30, 1993. In some cases, a recovery can still be obtained even if a claim was not filed.

Claimants face a variety of problems involving providing proof of inheritance, specifying the claim, and dealing with inquiries from the German Claims Office (Bundesamt für Zentrale Dienste und Offene Vermögensfragen – BADV).

We handle these issues for our clients and have published a series of articles on this website to provide claimants with information regarding them (see Publications: German Claims).

CLAIMS CONFERENCE CLAIMS

Where Nazi victims or their heirs did not file timely claims, the German Property Law permitted the Conference on Material Claims Against Germany, Inc. (Claims Conference) to pursue claims under the Property Law as their legal successor. In late 2012, the Claims Conference established a Late Applicants Fund (LAF) of 50 million Euros to compensate Nazi victims or their heirs. The filing period for the Claims Conference’s LAF program ended on December 31, 2014.

We handle various Claims Conference claim matters, including LAF claims, for our clients.

Rowland & Petroff is a member of the Claimants Representative Committee (CRC) which is a committee of law firms and other business professionals which represent Nazi victims and their heirs who lost property in eastern Germany during the Nazi era. The CRC strongly advocates that the Claims Conference improve the LAF program and its funding.

For further information on the Claimants Representative Committee (CRC) please visit the following website:

http://www.claimantsrepresentativecommittee.com/index.html