The collection, known as the Guelph Treasure, consists of 44
gold, jewel and pearl encrusted pieces which have belonged to
the city of Berlin's art collection since their purchase in
1935, on the orders of leading Nazi Hermann Goering.
Germany says an expert committee established last year that the
sale was not forced, following a 2008 claim by the heirs.
The reliquiaries dating from the 11th to 15th centuries were
once owned by northern German aristocrats and kept in Brunswick
cathedral. Today they are on show in Berlin's Bode Museum.
Lawyers for the heirs of the dealers, who bought the collection
from the Duke of Brunswick in 1929, said on Tuesday they filed a
civil suit with a district court in Washington DC, appealing to
the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).
They say the court has jurisdiction because the FSIA covers
violations of international law, such as forced property sales.
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A Jewish refugee from Austria, Maria Altmann, used this law in
2000 to recover paintings by Gustav Klimt. She successfully
fought the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and was
then awarded ownership by an Austrian court of arbitration.
"The fingerprints of Goering and Hitler are on this sale, the
dealers had no chance," restitution lawyer Markus Stoetzel said.
The Jewish dealers sold the works to the state of Prussia for 35
percent of its value, lawyer Nicholas O'Donnell said.
Ingolf Kern, a spokesman for the Prussian Cultural Heritage
Foundation, said he was surprised by the move, given that the
advisory commission had found the price was reasonable.
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The consortium of dealers bought 82 pieces in 1929 for 7.5 million
Reich marks and then sold 40 for 2.5 million marks. The Prussian
state paid 4.25 million marks for the rest in 1934-35.
The commission said the market was depressed in the early 1930s,
Prussia was the only interested buyer and the works were stored in
Amsterdam at the time, although the dealers were based in Germany.
This month Berlin designated the Guelph Treasure of national
cultural value, making it impossible for it to leave the country
without the approval of the culture ministry.
"If they were so sure they owned it, they wouldn't need to do this,"
said O'Donnell.
Kern argued, however, that this was a logical move for Germany's
most precious artifacts.
Germany has faced criticism for its handling of artworks looted by
the Nazis, with some museums accused of reluctance to research the
provenance of suspect works.
(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Stephen Brown and Angus
MacSwan)
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