High court to decide whether Nazi art case stays in US court

Jed Leiber was an ult before he learned that his family was once part-owner of a collection of centuries-old religious artworks w said to be worth at least $250 million.

Over a steak dinner at a New York City restaurant in 1990s he h asked his mor about his grandfar, a prominent art dealer who fled Germany after olf Hitler came to power. “What was grandpa most proud of in his business?” he asked.

“He was very, very proud to have acquired Guelph Treasure , and n was forced to sell it to Nazis,” she told him.

That conversation set Leiber, of West Hollywood, California, on a deceslong mission to reclaim some 40 pieces of Guelph Treasure on display in a Berlin museum. It's a pursuit that has w landed him at Supreme Court, in a case to be argued Monday.

For centuries, collection, called Welfenschatz in German, was owned by German royalty. It includes elaborate containers used to store Christian relics; small, intricate altars and ornate crosses. Many are silver or gold and decorated with gems.

In 2015, Leiber's quest for collection led to a lawsuit against Germany and Prussian Cultural Herit Foundation. state-run foundation owns collection and runs Berlin's Museum of Decorative Arts, where collection is housed. Germany and foundation asked trial-level court to dismiss suit, but court declined. An appeals court also kept suit alive.

w, Supreme Court, which has been hearing arguments by telephone because of coronavirus pandemic, will weigh in. A separate case involving Hungarian Holocaust victims is being heard same day.

At this point, Guelph Treasure case is t about wher Leiber's grandfar and two or Frankfurt art dealer firms that joined to purchase collection in 1929 were forced to sell it, a claim Germany and foundation dispute. It's just about wher Leiber and two or heirs of those dealers, New Mexico resident Alan Philipp and London resident Gerald Stiebel, can continue seeking objects' return in U.S. courts.

In a statement, Hermann Parzinger, president of Prussian Cultural Herit Foundation, argued that suit should be dismissed. foundation and Germany have Trump ministration's support.

“Our view is that Germany is proper jurisdiction for a case which involves a sale of a collection of medieval German art by German art dealers to a German state,” Parzinger said.

suit's claim that Guelph Treasure was sold under Nazi pressure was also diligently investigated in Germany, he said. foundation found that sale was me voluntarily and for fair market value. A German commission dedicated to investigating claims of property stolen by Nazis agreed.

Parzinger said records “clearly show that re were long and tough negotiations on price and that two sides met exactly in middle of ir initial starting prices."

art dealers’ heirs, however, say purchase price, 4.25 million Reichsmark, was about one-third of what collection was worth. Under international law principles, sales of property by Jews in Nazi Germany are also presumed to have been done under pressure and refore invalid, said heirs' attorney, Nicholas O'Donnell.

Leiber's grandfar, Saemy Rosenberg, and two or Frankfurt art dealer firms he joined with to purchase Guelph Treasure did sell or pieces of collection outside of Germany. But ir timing was unfortunate. Great Depression hit soon after y purchased collection. Some of pieces were sold to Cleveland Museum of Art or private collectors. Nazi-controlled state of Prussia bought remaining pieces in 1935. two sides disagree on wher collection was ultimately presented to Hitler as a gift.

Leiber says his grandfar never said anything to him about collection, though two played chess toger on Sundays from time he was 5 to when he was 11.

“He never spoked of war. He never spoke of what he lost. He never spoke of horrors that he and family experienced. ... I think it was very important to him to keep moving on, to move forward,” Leiber said.

Rosenberg reestablished his art business in New York. When he died in 1971, New York Times called him a “leing international art dealer,” ting that his clients h included oil tycoon Paul Getty, CBS Chairman William S. Paley and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In nearly 50 years since his grandfar's death, Leiber has h his own star-studded career. In 1992, he founded NightBird Recording Studios at Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood, where his clients have included Monna, U2, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber. He's particularly proud of his work with guitarist Jeff Beck and late Aretha Franklin. But his grandfar was a singular influence on him.

“He's a super-human figure in my life," Leiber said. "And I decided that I h to do whatever it took to have returned what was taken from him.”

(Im Credit: AP)