In recent years, a number of cases have sought compensation from Germany or Hungary for property the Nazis or their allies seized. Plaintiffs relied upon the “expropriation exception” of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to secure jurisdiction over the foreign sovereign. Two such cases were Toren v. Federal Republic of Germany and Republic of Hungary v. Simon. (28 U.S.C. § 1602 et seq.; 2023 WL 7103263 (D.C. Cir.) (per curiam); and 77 F.4th 1077 (D.C. Cir. 2023), cert. docketed, ___U.S.___ (Feb. 12, 2024)).

These appellate cases are significant for a number of reasons. They highlight the importance of properly reading the leading case, Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, and raise the issue whether a state seizing property from stateless persons violates international property law as such seizures from aliens do. They underscore the need to understand how Holocaust victims might have lost their citizenship, “the right to have rights.” Both decisions merit closer examination. (592 U.S. 169 (2021); Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 102 (1958) (plurality))