The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe said Peter Sachs, 74, was the rightful owner of the posters collected by his father Hans Sachs, now believed to be worth between €4.5 million and €16 million ($6 million and $21 million), and can demand their return from the German Historical Museum.
The case ended up with Karlsruhe court because of the posters’ unique and tumultuous journey through more than 70 years of German history, in which they were stolen from Sachs by the Nazis’ Gestapo, moved on to the possession of communist East Germany, then to the Berlin museum after reunification.
TO GO WITH STORY GERMANY LOOTED ART - This undated image provided by Peter Sachs, shows a poster done by P.H. Mar, circa 1932,
The court acknowledged that Peter Sachs did not file for restitution of the posters by the official deadline for such claims, and that the postwar restitution regulations instituted by the Western Allies could not be specifically applied in his case. But the judges ruled that the spirit of the laws was clearly on Sachs’ side.
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