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The former Schocken department store in Chemnitz, Germany. Designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn in 1930, it is considered a milestone in modern architecture. Image by Shaqspeare. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.

Germany awards Jewish family $68M for lost assets

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf

The former Schocken department store in Chemnitz, Germany. Designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn in 1930, it is considered a milestone in modern architecture. Image by Shaqspeare. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
The former Schocken department store in Chemnitz, Germany. Designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn in 1930, it is considered a milestone in modern architecture. Image by Shaqspeare. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
BERLIN (AP) – A Berlin court has ordered Germany to pay the heirs of Jewish owners of a department store chain an additional 50 million euros ($68 million) in compensation for property seized by the Nazis.

The Berlin administrative court said Thursday that the Schocken family lost its chain of stores, primarily in Saxony, during the Nazis’ so-called “Aryanization” of businesses in the 1930s.

The family was paid about 15 million euros for one building in the 1990s, but said the others were undervalued. In the ruling, the court ordered the heirs, who live in Israel and the U.S., receive an additional 50 million euros.

The best-known building involved was built in the eastern city of Chemnitz by architect Erich Mendelsohn in 1930. It now houses the State Museum of Archaeology.

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AP-WF-06-12-14 1400GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

The former Schocken department store in Chemnitz, Germany. Designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn in 1930, it is considered a milestone in modern architecture. Image by Shaqspeare. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
The former Schocken department store in Chemnitz, Germany. Designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn in 1930, it is considered a milestone in modern architecture. Image by Shaqspeare. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.