Opinion ID: 2460
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Kirstein Assets

Text: Clara and Gustav Kirstein lived in Leipzig, Germany with their two daughters, Gabrielle and Marianna, in the 1930s. They were a close Jewish family of means. Gustav, who was a renowned art publisher and art collector, died in 1934, leaving a life estate in all of his assets to his wife Clara and the remainder to Marianna and Gabrielle in equal shares. Before his death, Gustav had experienced the beginnings of Nazi persecution when his business was subjected to a forced sale. Faced with the continuing rise of Nazi power, Clara sent her two daughters to the United States after Gustav's death. Clara, intending to emigrate to the United States after her daughters, remained in Germany to sell whatever she could of her remaining artwork and business and to ship the balance of her artwork and other personal property to... New York, where she planned to join [her family]. On June 29, 1939, however, the Nazis confiscated Clara's passport and denied her permission to leave Germany. That night, Clara returned to her home in Leipzig and committed suicide. Thereafter, the Nazis confiscated her assets (the Kirstein Assets), which included the artwork and other property that had been packed for shipment to ... the United States. Nearly fifty years later, in 1986, Marianna died in New York State, leaving her son Klaus Baer as the sole heir of her estate. Klaus Baer died in 1987 in the State of Illinois, leaving his residuary estate in a trust benefitting his wife Miriam Reitz Baer (Miriam Baer), who survives him, for her lifetime with the remainder to the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (the Oriental Institute). The other Kirstein daughter, Gabrielle, died in New York State in 1957. She left her estate to her husband, Erich Jacobsen. Erich Jacobsen died in New York State in 1977, and the bulk of his estate passed to his and Gabrielle's son, Godfrey Jacobsen, who was named the residual beneficiary in Erich Jacobsen's will. Godfrey Jacobsen died in New York State in 1980, leaving a substantial amount of his property to Christel Gauger (Gauger), a nurse who had been with the Jacobsens for over twenty-seven years. Gauger, who had cared for Godfrey Jacobsen since the time he was fourteen-years old, was named the residual beneficiary of Godfrey Jacobsen's estate. After Godfrey Jacobsen's death, Gauger returned to her home in Germany and resided there until her death, which occurred during the pendency of this appeal. [1]