Welfenschatz: U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously in favour of SPK
Press release from 02/04/2021
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled on fundamental legal questions regarding the jurisdiction of U.S. courts in the legal dispute over the Guelph Treasure. It overturned the decision of the lower courts, which had rejected the SPK's motion to dismiss, and referred the case back to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The latter must now decide anew on the SPK's motion to dismiss, taking into account today's judgement.
Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK, explains: "I welcome the unanimous decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to follow the SPK's reasoning in the Guelph Treasure case. The SPK has long held that the case does not belong in a U.S. court. We look forward to presenting our legal arguments to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the case should be dismissed."
The Supreme Court's unanimous decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, states that U.S. law cannot govern the entire world ("United States law governs domestically but does not rule the world"). It also states that the plaintiffs have not sufficiently demonstrated that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act provides a legal basis for their claim against Germany.
The SPK is not only of the opinion that the action in the U.S. is inadmissible, but it also does not consider the action to be substantiated because the sale of the Guelph Treasure in 1935 was not a forced sale due to Nazi persecution. This view is based on years of careful provenance research and is supported by the recommendation of the Advisory Commission from 2014.
The SPK is committed to the fair and equitable resolution of Nazi restitution cases in accordance with the Washington Principles. These have guided its approach to restitution issues for more than two decades. In these twenty years, it has returned almost 2,000 works of art and books from its collections to the heirs of victims of Nazi persecution.
The lawsuit for the return of the Guelph Treasure was filed in February 2015 at 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). SPK is represented in the U.S. proceedings by the law firm Wiggin and Dana.