United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Case 1:15-cv-00266 Document 1 Filed 02/23/15 Page 1 of 71 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ) Alan PHILIPP, ) 5 Raeburn Close ) London NW11 6UG, United Kingdom, ) ) and ) ) Gerald G. STIEBEL, ) 3716 Old Santa Fe Trail ) Santa Fe, NM 87505, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) Case No. ) FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, a foreign ) state, ) ) and ) ) STIFTUNG PREUSSISCHER KULTURBESITZ, ) ) Von-der-Heydt-Str. 16-18 ) 10785 Berlin, Germany, ) ) Defendants. ) COMPLAINT This is a civil action by plaintiffs Alan Philipp (“Philipp”), and Gerald G. Stiebel (“Stiebel,” together with Philipp, the “plaintiffs”), for the restitution of a collection of medieval relics known as the “Welfenschatz” or the “Guelph Treasure” now wrongfully in the possession of the defendant Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, a/k/a the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (the “SPK”). The SPK is an instrumentality of the defendant Federal Republic of Germany (“Germany,” together with the SPK, the “defendants”). Case 1:15-cv-00266 Document 1 Filed 02/23/15 Page 2 of 71 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 1. This is an action to recover the Welfenschatz, a unique collection of medieval relics and devotional art that was sold by victims of persecution of the Nazi regime under duress, and far below actual market value. Those owners were a consortium of three art dealer firms in Frankfurt: J.&S. Goldschmidt, I. Rosenbaum, and Z.M. Hackenbroch (together, the “Consortium”). Zacharias Max Hackenbroch (“Hackenbroch”), Isaak Rosenbaum (“Rosenbaum”), Saemy Rosenberg (“Rosenberg”), and Julius Falk Goldschmidt (“Goldschmidt”) were the owners of those firms, together with plaintiffs’ ancestors and/or predecessors-in-interest in this action.
[Show full text]