US proceedings concerning the Guelph Treasure: Court of Appeal has ruled on the admissibility of the lawsuit against SPK and the Federal Republic of Germany
Press release from 07/10/2018
The lawsuit against the SPK for the return of the Guelph Treasure was allowed by the U.S. Court of Appeals, but dismissed against the Federal Republic of Germany. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation will now examine further options.
In February 2015, a lawsuit for the return of the Guelph Treasure was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. (Philipp and Stiebel vs. Federal Republic of Germany and Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz). The SPK is of the opinion that this action does not belong before a U.S. court. It therefore filed a "Motion to Dismiss" to have the lawsuit dismissed. On 31 March 2017, the court granted this motion on some points, but declared the action admissible on other points. The SPK filed an appeal against this in April last year. Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit of Columbia ruled on the appeal and instructed the U.S. District Court to dismiss the lawsuit against the Federal Republic of Germany, but to allow it against SPK.
"The SPK was and is of the opinion that this case does not belong before a U.S. court, and we are convinced, as before, that the lawsuit is also unfounded on the merits, since the sale of the Guelph Treasure over 80 years ago was not a forced sale due to Nazi persecution," said Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK. "The question of whether the Guelph Treasure is Nazi-looted property has already been negotiated before the German "Advisory Commission", which concluded in 2014 that it could not recommend its return."
The SPK and its lawyers will look closely at the court's decision and examine further options.
The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation is strongly committed to fair and equitable solutions for the restitution of Nazi-looted property. Since 1999, the SPK has processed more than 50 restitution applications and returned more than 350 works of art and more than 1000 books to their rightful owners. These included a drawing by Vincent van Gogh, a work by Munch and "The Watzmann" by Caspar David Friedrich. German museums and institutions have returned more than 14,300 objects as Nazi-looted art.
The SPK is represented in the U.S. proceedings by the law firm Wiggin and Dana.