Jerusalem who really owns Schindler’s List? – BBC

Today begins the lawsuit between Yad Vashem and Erika Rosenberg. Both claim ownership of documents that belonged to the German businessman who saved 1,200 Jews.

Who should inherit the List Schindler? It is this thorny issue that the court of Jerusalem will have to decide today. Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial, and Erika Rosenberg, the heir of the family of the German businessman, oppose About the property from the list.

The famous document, Steven Spielberg had used for his drama released in 1993, lists the names of employees and Jews saved by German industrialist. The original was destroyed at the end of the war. Two copies of the list exist and are now on display at the memorial in Jerusalem.

Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi Party, was a German industrialist credited with saving 1,200 Jews from death by making them work in its factories. After the war, the man and his wife emigrated to Argentina before returning only in 1958 in Germany. The suitcase containing Oskar Schindler documents and photographs found herself in Germany at the home of a certain Anne-Marie Staehr.

In his complaint before an Israeli court, Erika Rosenberg Oskar Schindler ensures was the lover of Anne-Marie Staehr. She accuses it of having misappropriated the bag after the death of the German businessman in 1974. Conversely, Yad Vashem says that the relationship between Oskar Schindler and Anne-Marie Staehr was platonic and Oskar Shindler offered him the suitcase. It therefore never belonged to Emily Schindler says the memorial

The two parties agree on one point. The suitcase was found by the son of the couple Staehr death of their parents in the late 1990s and they were then given to a German newspaper. When the existence of this case was made public, the wife of the industrialist began a legal action to obtain possession. But when a German judge ordered to return it, she had already been sent to Yad Vashem with the help of the corresponding daily.

In 2001, Emilie Schindler left Argentina for visit to Germany where she died the same year without issue. During the last years of her life, this woman is linked with Erika Rosenberg, her biographer become his heir, and the latter now claims a property right in the bag.

The lawyer representing Erika Rosenberg, says that his client has tried in vain to get these documents for years and it has decided to initiate legal proceedings against Yad Vashem in 2013 following the failure of all attempts. “Even if one can judge from a historical standpoint, these documents should be recovered by Yad Vashem, you can not assume you have the right to keep documents that do not belong to you, especially not in a liberal country,” says the lawyer.

Yad Vashem national institution by Israeli law to preserve and study all the documents relating to the history of the Holocaust, said he “got those legally Documents” and n ‘ have “never hidden possess.” Opposing “trade documents relating to the Holocaust,” the museum recalls in a statement sent to AFP their “prominent historical value” and believes they should be in the public domain. “We will continue this action to ensure that these documents do not arrive in the hands of individuals or people who are not the legal owners whose interests are not clear.”

Schindler’s List could become a legal soap opera rebounds after becoming a worldwide hit film in 1993 for which Spielberg received his first Oscar as a director.