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• The Wertheim Litigation
• Sachs Poster Collection
• Deutsche Kabelwerke AG

Representative Cases

Sachs Poster Collection

On March 16, 2012 the German High Court (Bundesgerichtshof) ruled that Osen LLC’s client, Peter Sachs, is the legal owner of his father’s stolen poster collection and that a German museum must return the collection to him. In a landmark case that was litigated for more than five years, the High Court’s ruling restores ownership of one of the largest and most famous poster collections in the world (estimated at approximately 4,300 vintage posters) to Mr. Sachs, the American son of Hans Sachs, the Jewish collector whose life’s work was stolen by the Gestapo in 1938.

After failed efforts to reach an amicable resolution, in March 2008, Peter Sachs filed a lawsuit in the civil court (Landgericht) in Berlin, seeking the return of a poster originally owned by his father from the German Historical Museum in Berlin. In January 2009, the Landgericht Berlin (district court) ruled that Peter Sachs was the legal owner of his father’s collection and awarded him the poster he had been seeking and –  by extension – the right to seek return of his entire poster collection.  The German Historical Museum filed an appeal with the Kammergericht (Appellate Court), and in January 2010 that court ruled that while Peter Sachs remained the legal owner of the collection, German law could not empower him to force the German Historical Museum to relinquish the collection. The Court took the additional step of denying Peter Sachs automatic leave to appeal its decision to the Bundesgerichtshof (German High Court).

In July 2010 Peter Sachs filed a petition for leave to appeal to the German High Court, and in June 2011, the High Court granted Peter Sachs petition for leave to appeal, noting that there were important legal issues at stake. After hearing oral argument in February 2012, on March 16, 2012, the High Court ultimately issued a decision vindicating Mr. Sach’s claims.

Finally, in October 2012, the Museum returned 4,344 posters to Peter Sachs.  Some of the posters will be retained by the Sachs family, while others will be donated and a portion of the posters will be auctioned off through Guernsey's Auction house in New York. 

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In 2005, Peter Sachs began investigating the whereabouts of his father’s long lost collection through the internet and located references to the Museum’s collection of Sachs posters. In order to help him regain his father’s collection, he retained the law firm of Osen LLC.

The successful legal struggle to regain the Hans Sachs Poster Collection is representative of the Firm’s efforts because, while the facts of the case are unique, it demonstrates our commitment to seek positive resolutions without immediate resort to litigation, a determination to uphold international law and hold governments accountable to their public commitments and a willingness to pursue our clients’ rights vigorously and creatively to right historical wrongs.

 

 

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