Press comments on the behavior of Sparkasse an Voleme und Ruhr in Hagen
Press reviews from May 7, 2025
BILD chief reporter at Axel Springer SE
On May 8, 80 years ago, Ingeburg Geißler (92) was liberated from the Theresienstadt concentration camp as a 12-year-old girl. She was born in Erfurt in 1932 as the only child of a Jewish father and a Christian mother. This evening, in the Thuringian State Representation in Berlin, she spoke movingly about her persecution in Nazi Germany to an auditorium filled to the last seat. A few hours earlier, the Higher Regional Court of Hamm announced a verdict in a dispute between Sparkasse Hagen and the grandson of a Jewish merchant over the disclosure of historical documents relating to an account held by his grandfather during the Nazi era and the corresponding compensation. One day before the historic anniversary, the Higher Regional Court confirmed the refusal of the Sparkasse of my hometown Hagen. The files on the Jewish accounts from the Nazi era remain closed. Since the claims for compensation were time-barred, the grandson would also have no claim to historical information about the account from the Nazi era. Yet 30 years ago, the savings bank was still boasting in the local press about its archive and the files on the “Jewish accounts”. But the savings bank does not want to come to terms with its Nazi past. I am ashamed of the narrow-mindedness, obliviousness to history and lack of instinct of the savings bank from my home country.
Thank you for presenting the two cases. It is not enough to celebrate the survivors once a year. The beneficiaries of the murders are among us and the OLG decides as in a warranty case.
