It has been more than two years since valuable historical jewels were stolen from the historical Green Vault in Dresden. Now the trial against six suspected perpetrators begins at the district court. The 23- to 28-year-olds caught in several raids are charged with aggravated gang theft, arson and particularly aggravated arson. For security reasons, the Greater Criminal Chamber negotiates in the special hall of the Dresden Higher Regional Court on the outskirts of the city, which was created for terrorism and extremism proceedings.
In recent years, the high-security hall has been a place where the socio-political radicalization processes in Saxony can be studied. A pizza delivery man and a bus driver were convicted here as members of a right-wing terrorist organization. The suspected members of Group E. have been in the dock for a few months. Led by a student, they are said to have specifically hunted down neo-Nazis. Now Wissam R. and five other men are being tried here behind safety glass.
On November 25, 2019, the accused are said to have stolen 21 pieces of jewelry set with diamonds and brilliants. From the Green Vault, of all places, a museum that should be as safe as the American military base Fort Nox. It would take the sophistication of Oceans Eleven to steal something from one of Europe’s richest treasuries, it seemed. In fact, brute force was enough.
The insured value of the jewelry is estimated at 113.8 million euros
On the night of the crime, the thieves first set fire to a power distribution box. The street lighting failed, including around Dresden Castle. At 4:57 a.m., several people entered the mirrored and marble-lined hall of treasures. They don’t care about the jeweled cups or the picture of Mary on the wall. Determined they ran into the jewel room. They hit a display case with an axe. After 56 blows, the perpetrators were able to reach through the shattered glass and took what they could get their hands on: Queen Amalie Auguste’s breast bow, a sword, a hat pin – all set with diamonds and jewels.
The pieces were attached with fishing line, some torn, such as the epaulette. When the thieves were done, they sprayed the contents of a fire extinguisher to cover their tracks. A few minutes later they were already in the getaway car.
The recordings released by the Dresden police department show pieces of jewelery that were stolen during the jewel theft in Dresden.
(Photo: Jürgen Karpinski/dpa)
The insurance value of the jewelry is estimated at 113.8 million euros – but since that night many Saxons have also felt a bit robbed of their soul. The interior minister, who is otherwise very unemotional, does in fact see an “attack on the cultural identity of the Saxons”. So the pressure on the police was high. 40 officers from the State Criminal Police Office evaluated clues for a year and followed hundreds of tips from the population. The trail finally leads the Soko “Epaulette” to Berlin to the R family.
At the Berlin district court, people were amazed at the criminal energy that the Rs displayed
The R. family, or a criminal branch of the extended family, which includes several hundred people, has achieved nationwide notoriety in the field of spectacular crimes. In 2014, the name popped up in connection with a bank robbery in Berlin – at that time 300 lockers were cleared and the bank was then blown up.
In 2017, the 100-kilogram Big Maple Leaf gold coin disappeared from the Bode Museum in Berlin. As in the Green Vault, the perpetrators had opened a display case with an ax. Shortly thereafter, traces of gold dust were found on Wissam R., among others. He and two relatives were later sentenced to several years in prison for the theft.
In front of the Berlin district court, the accused were still looking for the big stage, they held magazines with meaningful titles in front of their faces, one of which read: “Knowledge and Amazement”. And one was actually amazed at the criminal energy that the Rs displayed and how little the judiciary had to oppose them so far. Although Wissam R. had multiple criminal records, he remained at large throughout the gold coin trial.
When he wasn’t sitting in the dock, he worked as a parcel delivery boy, and he probably didn’t spend his time doing nothing else either. First, in 2018, he made a kind of business trip to Erlangen, where he stole a hydraulic spreader for bending metal, which was probably also used in the burglary of the Green Vault. And in November 2019 he is said to have made the family trip to Dresden that is now in the high security room. Afterwards he sat again in a Berlin courtroom and listened to the witnesses and experts with a friendly face.
A window in the Bode Museum was broken and the alarm didn’t work
In the process, however, one also learned what an easy target the state museums are for art thieves. A window in the Bode Museum was broken and the alarm didn’t work. And the security guard who was on duty that night was in the Bode Museum for the first time. The Rs were able to transport the gold coin away with a trolley and throw it through a window into a park, largely unnoticed.
The head of the state art collection in Dresden, Marion Ackermann, only knew criminal clans like the Rs from television. After the burglary in Berlin, she had her security chief assure her that the Green Vault was adequately armed.
The robbed display case in the Jewel Room of the Historical Green Vault in the Residential Palace in Dresden.
(Photo: Oliver Killig/dpa)
Special scanners form an invisible barrier around the building. If you cross it, an alarm goes off. Even if there are no more guards in the museum, the control center is manned 24 hours a day. But the thieves managed to circumvent the security measures several days before the burglary. In preparation, they cut a hole in one of the historic window bars. Exactly in a place that the scanners didn’t pick up.
Did the thieves just have luck or help? The public prosecutor’s office is currently investigating 40 other suspects. Among them are four men who, disguised as tourists, are said to have spied on the Green Vault. But the public prosecutor’s office is also targeting the security personnel. On the night of the crime itself, the scanner was switched off, and the guards only noticed the thieves when they appeared on the surveillance cameras.
The only question that remains is where the jewels could be. It is questionable whether the process will clarify this. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the accused have not yet commented on the allegations. Because two of the accused were, in a legal sense, adolescents at the time of the crime, the criminal division acts as a juvenile division in this case. The main file on the case comprises 65 volumes, including 14 defense lawyers – lawyers from Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin, Hanover and Hamburg – three public prosecutors, representatives of the youth courts and dozens of witnesses. The court has prepared for a month-long process and scheduled 50 days of hearings until the end of October, continuation possible.