1. BGH, decision of 26 June 2003, III ZR 245/98, published in NJW 2003, 3488 et seq.
2. According to the Court, the legal basis for this is to be found in Art. 135a I No 1 Grundgesetz (GG-German Basic Law); cf. Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) BVerfGE 15,126 at 145. Evidently, traces of Nazi – ideology to be found in the law of the time were not to be taken into account. BGH NJW 2003, 3488 at 3491.
3. Geimer Reinhold , Völkerrrechtliche Staatenimmunität gegenüber Amtshaftungsansprüchen ausländischer Opfer von Kriegsexzessen, LMK 2003, 215 concludes that state immunity also serves as a guarantee for peace between the states (p. 216).
4. Id.
5. BGH NJW 2003, 3488 at 3490. The Two-Plus-Four Treaty can be found at BGBl. II 1990, 1318. For further reading, a selection of scholarly commentary on this topic can be found in the Court's decision at 3490; see also, Dozer, supra note 30; Adler and Zumbansen, supra note 30.