Jewish heirs to Wertheim stores settle with retailer over Berlin property

A Jewish family has settled its compensation claim with a leading German retailer over property in Berlin that the family lost under the Nazis, ending a 15-year dispute over the site, the Jewish Claims conference said Friday.

KarstadtQuelle AG agreed to pay $117.5 million to the Claims Conference, which has fought on behalf of heirs to the Wertheim family for the restitution of the land, it said in a statement.

"This settlement is of tremendous importance," said Gideon Taylor, Claims Conference vice president. "It is a symbolic recognition of a painful chapter in the history of the Jews of Nazi-era Germany."

The settlement was agreed to after a year of negotiations mediated by former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. It brings to a close a heated legal battle over the Lenne Triangle that started in 1991 when the land was sold to developers after German reunification for 145 million.