Germany should keep posters stolen by Nazis-panel

BERLIN, Jan 26 (Reuters) A German government commission rejected a request from an American who asked the German Historical Museum to return thousands of valuable posters stolen from his family by the Nazis.

''I am inexpressibly saddened by the recommendation made today by the Limbach Commission,'' Peter Sachs, a retired airline pilot, said in reaction to the panel's recommendation.

Sachs, 69, had earlier told the commission that the posters were taken by the Gestapo from his family, who fled Berlin in 1938. His US lawyer, Gary Osen, estimates the collection to be worth tens of millions of dollars.

The commission gave no explanation of its ruling after its closed-door hearing yesterday.

The collection of rare posters includes announcements of exhibitions, theatre and cabaret performances, advertisements for consumer goods, along with political propaganda posters.

Sachs and his long-deceased father had been unaware that around 4,000 posters had survived the war and were in a museum in communist East Germany. After the 1990 reunification, the posters were acquired by the German Historical Museum.

''Anyone who believes that my father was happy that an East German museum acquired his stolen collection or that he would have wanted it kept from his own family cannot truly understand the moral implications of those words,'' Sachs said.

Osen, who recently won a lawsuit demanding compensation for the American heirs of property stolen by the Nazis, said he would keep trying to get the posters back for his client.

''We'll continue exploring our legal options in the days to come and fortunately the commission's views are ill-conceived but not legally binding,'' Osen said.

A spokesman at the museum, which has refused to hand the posters over to Sachs, declined to comment.

REUTERS PDM BD0958