A leading collection of pre second world war movie, advertising and propaganda posters, which were looted by the Nazis in 1938, are to auction in New York on January 18. The 3,600 posters are believed to be all that remains from poster collector Hans Sachs' original 12,500 piece collection.
The remnants were returned to the Jewish dentist's son, Peter Sachs, in November 2012, from the Deutsches Historisches Museum following a court order issued from the highest court in Germany for civil affairs.
 Although incomplete, the Sachs collection contains 3,600 posters |
The posters' repatriation follows a period of revelation and attempts at resolution relating to property seized by the Nazis. In 2011, the US National Archives and Commission for Looted Art made an online catalogue of art works stolen by the Nazis available to the public.
The co-chair of the Commission of Looted Art in Europe, Anne Weber, said she considered the documents' release "a major step forward in international co-operation to help to solve these long standing issues."
Aslant to this, there have been further calls for the sale of Nazi memorabilia in the UK to be banned, as it is in France, Germany, Austria and Hungary.
The posters in question, which were taken from Sachs in 1938, were removed under an order made by Nazi propaganda minister, Jospeh Goebbles, who informed Sachs they were to be used as part of a museum exhibit.
Sachs, who was resident in Germany throughout the Nazi's rise to power, was subsequently arrested on November 9, 1938, during the Gestapo-coordinated pogrom of violence against Jewish citizens which is now known as Kristallnacht.
 An 1895 chocolate advertisement from the Sachs collection |
Taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Sachs' wife secured his freedom soon after and the pair escaped to the US. Having accepted compensation for the collection in 1961, Sachs died in 1974 believing the posters had been destroyed.
Sachs' son Peter has expressed a desire that the posters stay together. They have been valued collectively at $5.3m.
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