Germany Settles Century-Long Restitution Dispute Over Royal Property

A nearly century-long legal battle over royal property has ended, as Germany’s federal government and the states of Berlin and Brandenburg reached a settlement with the descendants of a German noble family over ownership of 27,000 artworks, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday.

Wolfram Weimer, Germany’s new Minister of State for Culture, announced the deal in Berlin on Tuesday, confirming the collection, which includes a portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder and a rare 18th-century table service commissioned by Emperor Frederick II, will remain held in public museums such as the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the German Historical Museum. Weimer called the dispute’s end a “success for Germany as a cultural location.”

(Further details of the settlement have not been disclosed publicly.)

The dispute dates back to 1926, when a contract between members of the House of Hohenzollern and the former state of Prussia aimed to settle ownership after the fall of the German monarchy in 1918. Because the Hohenzollern property was confiscated before the settlement, questions over rightful legal title persisted for nearly 100 years afterwards.

Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia and great-great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, had sought restitution of the artifact and financial compensation since 2014. After lawsuits from the family were withdrawn in 2023, negotiations over the art resumed last fall.

Under the settlement, the items will remain open to the public and will stay in their current collections, focused on Prussian and German history.