By Zoe Tillman, Legal Times

Descendants of Jewish art dealers who lived in pre-World War II Germany are suing the German government, claiming they are the rightful owners of a valuable collection of medieval relics that ended up in the hands of the Nazis.

The plaintiffs are seeking the return of the Welfenschatz, also known as the Guelph Treasure, a collection of several dozen medieval relics. According to a lawsuit filed on Monday in federal district court in Washington, the estimated value of the collection exceeds $250 million.

Nazi leaders orchestrated the sale of the Welfenschatz to the Prussian government in 1935, the plaintiffs claimed, forcing the consortium of Jewish art dealers who owned the collection to sell it under duress for far less money than it was worth. The collection was presented as a “surprise gift” to Adolph Hitler at a ceremony later that year, according to the complaint.

“Any sale of property in Nazi Germany by Jewish owners—let alone to the Nazi-run state itself—was presumptively under duress, illegitimate, and void,” the plaintiffs argued in their complaint.

According to the complaint, the collection was seized by U.S. troops after World War II and then given in trust to German officials. Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which manages the collection, said in a statement that he was surprised by the plaintiffs’ decision to file suit, given that an advisory commission in Germany determined last year that the sale was not made under duress. Parzinger’s statement was provided on Tuesday by the German Embassy in the United States.

“I am not aware of any new facts that would result in a different assessment of the case,” Parzinger said. “I trust that a U.S. Court also will be persuaded by the results of our years-long methodical investigations into the provenance. It remains to be seen whether the District Court in Washington, DC, will even view itself as having jurisdiction over the case.”

The fight over the Welfenschatz differs from a number of other lawsuits filed in U.S. courts involving items that came into the Nazis’ possession because it involves a sale, as opposed to allegations of theft or looting. Nicholas O’Donnell of Sullivan & Worcester, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs suing for the return of the Welfenschatz, said in a phone interview on Tuesday that the case fell under the same provisions of the federal Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act that allowed plaintiffs to sue over art and other items allegedly stolen or taken by the Nazis by force.

“It is a legal principle that is accepted in the United States and in Germany coming out of the allied law after the end of the war that you have to presume that any transaction involving a Jew in Germany was invalid. You have to presume that,” O’Donnell said.

The advisory commission in Germany rejected the plaintiffs’ claim to the collection in March 2014. The plaintiffs in their complaint called the proceedings a “sham” and accused the commission of failing to recognize the “presumption of duress.”

The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.

IMAGE: Medieval relics that make up part of the Guelph Treasure. Courtesy of M.H. Stötzel.

 

For more on this story go to: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/legaltimes/id=1202718763402/Germany-Sued-Over-Relics-Reportedly-Given-to-Hitler#ixzz3Sm5an3VG