Overview
- The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe heard the case over custody of the Kusserow family archive documenting the Nazi-era persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
- The panel indicated the matter could be remitted to the Cologne Higher Regional Court after faulting gaps in its prior ruling.
- The central legal question is whether the federal government obtained the collection through good-faith acquisition even though the seller may have lacked title.
- Jehovah’s Witnesses say Annemarie Kusserow bequeathed the archive to their organization, while her brother sold it to the state after her 2005 death.
- More than 1,000 items are held by the government, with only a small selection displayed at the Military Historical Museum in Dresden.