American fights for art seized by Nazis

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hih_S4aeQvhU9t8jJLXm830ErtCgD95Q5TH00

By DAVID RISING – 15 hours ago

BERLIN (AP) — When Peter Sachs was only a year old in 1938, the Nazis seized his father's collection of 12,500 rare posters on the orders of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.

Sachs' father, Hans — a Jewish dentist — was then thrown into the Sachsenhausen concentration camp north of Berlin. After his wife managed to secure his release, the family fled to Boston — leaving the posters behind.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5hItmWYRIy094xzz4epKuch2_cR3A?size=s
In this Jan. 23, 2007 file photo, Peter Sachs poses for media in front of two posters, pieces from his father Hans Sachs' Poster Collection, at the German Historical Museum in Berlin. Peter Sachs was only a year old in 1938, the Nazis seized his Jewish father's collection of 12,500 rare posters on the orders of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Today they are worth at least euro4.5 million (US$5.9 million) and Sachs is taking the German Historical Museum to court Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 to try to get them back. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file)


Today, some 4,000 of the posters, worth at least euro4.5 million ($5.9 million), are in the possession of the German Historical Museum in Berlin, largely in storage. Peter Sachs goes to court Tuesday to try to get them back.

"I think that any disposition of the posters would be preferable to their languishing in a museum for 70 years without ever seeing the light of day," Sachs told the AP in a telephone interview from his home in Sarasota, Florida.

The posters include advertisements for exhibitions, cabarets, movies, and consumer products, as well as political propaganda — all rare, with only small original print runs. One jewel of the collection was a 1932 poster for "Die Blonde Venus" — The Blonde Venus — a film starring Marlene Dietrich. It formed the basis for Sachs' suit when he filed it last year, but museum officials say it is not part of the Sachs collection they have.

Only a handful of the posters on display at any given time but museum officials say they form an integral part of its 80,000-piece collection. The museum also points out that those in storage are regularly viewed by researchers.

FULL story at link.

[alittlelark]

1. I would guess he will get them back... I hope

He also sues for the 'exhibit time' profits that were made.