After more than a year, the process of breaking into the Dresden Green Vault is coming to an end. Some of the jewel thieves have confessed and returned loot – not without compensation.
It was supposed to be a quickie, but in the end the object of desire wasn’t as easy to turn into money as we thought. It is still unknown who initiated and planned the spectacular break-in into the historic Green Vault in Dresden. But it is now certain that the jewel theft three and a half years ago is the responsibility of the Berlin Remmo clan. Five members of the well-known extended family of Arab origin have confessed to a Dresden criminal court that they were involved in it or in the preparation and told how the coup went. And most of the stolen jewelry is back – but the case is far from solved.
The burglary of the Treasury Museum was one of the most spectacular art thefts in Germany and also made international headlines. Three brothers and their cousins between the ages of 24 and 29, who were caught in raids in Berlin until the summer of 2021, have to answer for serious gang theft, arson and particularly serious arson. Five of them are in custody, a 25-year-old is still serving his youth sentence for stealing the gold coin from the Bode Museum in Berlin in 2017.
21 trinkets stolen
At the beginning of 2023, a so-called deal brought about a turning point in the trial at the Dresden Regional Court, which is taking place in a special hearing room under considerable security precautions. Until then, the accused had remained silent on the matter. In December 2022, the defense promised that the loot would be handed over. Shortly before Christmas, however, only 18 of the 21 stolen pieces of jewelery were found, some damaged and incomplete, on the table of a law firm in West Berlin.
Four of the accused agreed to the agreement between the public prosecutor’s office, the defense and the court, which was concluded at the beginning of January, and committed themselves to “credible confessions” and questioning – in exchange for reduced sentences. What they told in court adds up to a cinematic scenario.
In the beginning there was a cell phone photo of the “Dresden Greens”, taken during a friend’s school trip to the Green Vault, which one of the two youngest defendants had received. However, after visiting the New Green Vault on the first floor of the palace, the idea was rejected as too difficult. The reconstructed jewel room on the ground floor, however, seemed more accessible, especially since a supervisor assured one of the defendants that “the stones are real” and showed him the display case with the “most expensive”.
burglary prepared for a long time
The burglary was prepared for months, cars, license plates, mobile phones procured. Before they struck, teams drove several times from Berlin to Dresden at night, tested the security systems at the Residenzschloss and, using hydraulic rescue shears like the ones used by the fire brigade, cut a piece out of the historical grille in front of the window to the museum that the façade scanner couldn’t because of a canopy could capture. Then they put it back in place with tape. To their amazement, nothing happened, although the cutting “was very loud” and they jumped around in front of the facade.
In the early morning of November 25, 2019, the cars raced south again from the federal capital – six of them. A 26-year-old first set fire to a power distributor with the help of petrol in saucepans to turn off the light and alarm in the castle – but only the street lamps went out.
The main act was then a matter of minutes: At 4:56 a.m., the oldest accused, aged 29, and a person who had not previously been charged entered the museum, used an ax to punch holes in the display case with the most magnificent valuables and tore out whatever they could get their hands on. After less than five minutes, they were out again with the valuable jewelry made of diamonds and brilliants with a total value of over 113 million euros.
A few kilometers away, they switched to another car after setting their car on fire in an apartment building’s underground garage to cover their tracks. For some it was “a real adventure, a kind of test of courage”, while others wanted their faded image as a celebrated “master thief” back. The break in the gold coin process came at just the right time for him. Five defendants expressed remorse in their last word and apologized for the crime. A 25-year-old has an alibi that could not be shaken: emergency treatment in a Berlin clinic.
Much in the dark
The recovery of the valuable art objects was probably the inspiration for the “deal”. This is also controversial in legal circles, although the agreement has long been part of court proceedings in Germany. A previous judge called it a farce. “How credible are statements in which every word has been discussed with the defense attorneys beforehand.” Defense attorneys read the confessions, and according to their wishes, the interviews were conducted in such a way that they discussed several questions externally with their clients and formulated answers.
The fact that clan members chat in court is new to Berlin prosecutors. “The Remmos have never commented on proceedings that I have dealt with before,” said Thomas Schulz-Spirohn. There has also not yet been an agreement with criminals from the family. Ralph Knispel, chairman of the Association of Berlin Public Prosecutors, is not aware of anything of the sort. In the decision to offer confessions and loot, the impending sentence – up to ten years youth imprisonment and up to 15 years for adults for particularly serious arson – may have played a role.
Also because the defense made it a condition of the “deal” that their clients are not obliged to incriminate third parties, much has remained in the dark. Two of the accused only called their two accomplices “X” and “Y” and did not provide any information as to who planned the crime and pulled the strings. There must have been many backers, masterminds, accomplices and confidants, says the lawyer and publicist Butz Peters as a trial observer. “But there was an iron silence.” Nevertheless, it is possible that some of the defendants will be able to leave the courthouse free when the verdict is announced on Tuesday, says a court spokesman. Because the “deal” provides for the arrest warrants to be suspended – subject to conditions.
No alarm on the day of the fact
Testimonies from investigators and experts in the process also revealed the naivety and omissions in the area of security that at least favored the plundering of Saxony’s “state treasury”: The external protection by scanner, a kind of electronic facade curtain, had a known gap. Nobody in the security center noticed how people climbed over the castle wall the night before the burglary. And on the day of the crime, the alarm wasn’t armed.
Too late for the unique treasures, most of which have been recovered but also damaged. The director of the Art Loss Registry for stolen art in London, Amelie Ebbinghaus, is skeptical that much profit could be made from the loot. “I suspect that at least some of the jewels that are still missing are because they can be disassembled or reshaped relatively easily.” That only works within organized crime, where it can also be traded.
The pieces of jewelry that are still missing have several dozen large diamonds, including the “Saxon White” of more than 49.8 carats. Ebbinghaus thinks it’s very unlikely that her company will find them doing market research now, or that they’ll show up anywhere in two or three years. She assumes that they will have disappeared from the scene for the time being – but “in ten or 20 years” that would be imaginable.