Berlin Library Caught up in Controversial Legal Battle

Hailed as an architectural masterpiece, the newly-opened library forms part of the so-called “federal ribbon,” a row of government buildings stretching from the German chancellor’s office in the former West Berlin to the new Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus in the former east.

“Where the wall once stood, democratically elected politicians now have their offices and their library – history could not have taken a better turn,” said Wolfgang Thierse, the parliament’s president, during Wednesday’s opening ceremony of the €221 million ($270 million) building.

The library completes the €10 billion move of Germany’s government from the former capital Bonn to Berlin. Germany’s parliament had approved this in 1991. While Berlin government offices opened for business in 1999, ministries and many other agencies still have Bonn offices as part of an agreement to keep Bonn as a “federal city.”

The new building at the heart of unified Berlin will house the world’s third-largest parliamentary library after those in Washington D.C. and Tokyo. About 1.3 million volumes and 11,000 journals will find their new home here.

A symbol of unity or Germany’s dark history?

While closed to the public, the building has the potential to serve as a symbolic bridge in a formerly divided city and country. But instead a dispute over the land on which it stands has been evoking memories of a darker period of Germany’s history.

American heirs of the Wertheim family, owners of one of Europe’s biggest department store chains and large parts of central Berlin before the Nazis seized their property in 1937, have asked for compensation for the 8,000 square meter (86,111 square foot) site. Three members of the Wertheim family died at the Ausschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust and others fled abroad.

The German finance ministry, which administers the land, has offered to pay Wertheim’s descendants € 2.48 million, a fraction of its value – estimated at a minimum of € 18.26 million.

Ministry officials have argued that the sales price should be reduced by about € 5 million in clean-up costs and more than €10 million Germany had to pay to the holder of a lease on the land.

Parliament’s president supports heirs’ claims

“The money’s just symbolic, but it still says something if what’s offered is far too little,” Wertheim’s grand-niece, 72-year-old Barbara Principe of New Jersey, told Der Spiegel newsmagazine. Along with several relatives, Principe attended Wednesday’s opening ceremony at Thierse’s invitation.

The president of the Bundestag assured them of his support in finding a solution to the dispute. “If compensation claims are justified, they will have to be recognized and enforced appropriately,” Thierse said.

Compensating Wertheim’s descendants or legal successors?

Even if Germany ends up offering more money for the land, it’s still unclear whether Wertheim’s heirs will receive it. That's because the family is embroiled in a seperate legal battle with German retailing giant KarstadtQuelle.

Karstadt-Quelle also claims ownership of the land on which the new library stands: In 1994, the company took over competitor Hertie, which in turn had bought the remaining Wertheim assets in 1952. The descendants received about €20,000.

“Karstadt still profits from our family’s name and heritage,” Principe said during a news conference on Wednesday, adding that Karstadt was trying to keep the Wertheim descendants from receiving adequate compensation for the property in eastern Germany.

A Karstadt spokesman told DW-WORLD that the company will continue to pursue its claims to the Wertheim property.

In a separate matter, Principe and her relatives have filed a civil law suit against KarstadtQuelle in the U.S. and are seeking several hundred million dollars in compensation for another property on Berlin’s swanky Potsdamer Platz. A court decision in the case is expected next spring.