Karlsruhe - A group of Germans seeking 20 billion deutschmarks (£8 billion) compensation for land confiscated by the Soviet army and turned over to East Germany in 1949 have had their case dismissed.
Yesterday's judgement by Germany's constitutional court in Karlsruhe ends one of the most bitter legacies of German unification. "I am disappointed and dismayed," said Mr Seigfried Richter, one of the 40 complainants outside the court.
Unsuprisingly, the federal government in Berlin welcomed the decision yesterday. The ruling has saved them an estimated 20 billion deutschmarks and protects them against future compensation claims.
Over 11,000 German landowners, each owning more than 100 hectares of land in the post-war Soviet sector, watched helplessly as the Soviet army took their land and turned it over to the East German communist state, founded in 1949. Many landowners, frustrated by the drawn-out process of establishing ownership and paying compensation, have instead bought back their former estates.