The six men are accused of organized robbery and arson over the spectacular theft of 18th-century jewels from the Green Vault museum in 2019. The value of the jewels was estimated at €113.8 million ($135 million).
Thieves had broken into the Green Vault museum in the early hours of November 25, 2019Image: Reuters/Saxony Police Department
Armed men had broken into the Green Vault museum and snatched 21 pieces of jewelry encrusted with more than 4,300 diamonds.
Prosecutors said the insured value of the pieces reached €113.8 million ($135 million) — in what has been labeled as the biggest heist in modern German history.
The priceless treasures stolen from Germany's Green Vault
In 2019, thieves robbed the opulent museum in Dresden, making off with dazzling jewels. Some of them remain missing to this day.
A treasure chest robbed
The unique jewel sets were the special attraction of the Green Vault. Among the stolen pieces are the diamond jewelry of former Saxon queens, a military star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle, and a diamond-encrusted sword. They were kept in display cases that the thieves broke into in November 2019.
Star of the Order of the White Eagle
The ornate breast star was made in 1746-49 by goldsmith Jean Jacques Pallard using diamonds, rubies, gold and silver. Receiving the star was a rare honor: By the time Saxon Elector and King of Poland Augustus II the Strong died in 1733, he had appointed only 40 Knights to the Order of the White Eagle.
An aigrette is a type of hair ornament. This piece, a stolen item from the collection in Dresden, was designed in the shape of a sun. It was made at some point between 1782 and 1807 and belongs to the collection of brilliant jewelry owned by the former queens of Saxony. It consists of 127 diamonds and is constructed of silver.
This over-the-top sword hilt was designed by several jewelers in the 18th century. It consists of nine larger diamonds and 770 smaller ones, as well as a number of silver, gold, steel and velvet elements. What happened to it after the theft is anyone's guess.
Saxony's ruler Augustus II the Strong (1670-1733) wanted to create artistic gesamtkunstwerk, mixed artistic forms, in Dresden during his reign. Between 1723 and 1730, he had a Baroque building erected to express his vision of wealth and power. This palace, now the Green Vault museum, reflects this opulent vision and to this day remains full of significant works of art and valuable jewels.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kahnert
Time traveling in the White Silver Room
The White Silver Room is one of eight chambers that comprise the Green Vault. Visiting the collection is like traveling back in time to the Baroque era, as one browses the 3,000 objects in the collection. The Green Vault opened to the public as early as 1724. Visitors were only allowed to enter in small groups and, according to the king's wish, "with clean clothing."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kahnert
August the Strong: Patron of the arts and lover of excess
Augustus II the Strong had his Dresden residence expanded according to the French model. He held court in the style of Louis XIV, depleting Saxony's finances in the process. The coat of arms of the elector of Saxony can still be found in the ornate building.
Image: picture-alliance/ ZB
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What we know about the suspects
Prosecutors accuse the six German nationals, aged between 22 and 27 years old, of aggravated gang robbery and aggravated arson.
Two of the suspects had already been convicted for stealing a 100-kilogram (220-pound) gold coin from Berlin's Bode Museum in 2017 — another robbery that shook up Germany.
Prosecutors did not name the suspects. But police had said, during their manhunt, that the suspects were members of the so-called "Remmo clan," a family of Arab origin who are notorious for ties to organized crime.
The break-in
The suspects were allegedly armed with a loaded revolver and an automatic loading gun with a silencer when they broke into one of the world's oldest museums in the early hours of November 25, 2019.
According to prosecutors, the suspects laid a fire before the break-in to cut the power supply for street lights outside the museum and set fire to a car in a nearby garage.
