Chancellor Friedrich Merz is outlining the German government’s position on a range of issues ahead of a key EU summit. Lawmakers are also set to debate major domestic reforms alongside foreign policy.

First civil lawsuits open after Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen vault heist

The first two civil lawsuits have opened in Essen, in western Germany, as customers seek damages from the Sparkasse bank after a spectacular vault heist over the Christmas holidays.

Criminals were able to drill a vast hole directly into the vault of the Buer branch of the bank in the city of Gelsenkirchen, spending a minimum of four hours inside cleaning out most of the safe deposit boxes — with their crime only being identified and reported two days later, on December 29, when a fire alarm went off for a second time.

The two claimants are suing for damages and told the court on Thursday that they would reject an offer of an arbitration settlement. They accuse the bank of serious shortcomings in ensuring the security of the vault — charges the lender rejects. 

The judge said it was possible that all civil claims connected to the heist might be adjourned until an assessor had given a verdict on the bank’s liability for the first case. He said it would make no sense to try to assess every case individually as they all stemmed from the same crime at the same bank. 

Sparkasse says it automatically insures each safe deposit box — around 3,100 were inside the ravaged vault — for a maximum of €10,300 (roughly $11,850) unless customers make other arrangements. 

Both claimants say their valuables were worth considerably more. An 83-year-old woman says she had jewelry and cash worth €391,000 inside, while the man in the other, separate case gives a tally of almost €49,000. 

They point to things like the criminals gaining access to the parking lot, seemingly via a manipulated emergency exit, using an industrial drill to penetrate the vault, circumventing several alarms, and their presence having gone undetected for two full days — while the bank was shut for Christmas and the weekend that followed it — as signs of security failings.

The bank has argued that its security provisions at the branch were beyond reproach and that the site was hit by an elaborately planned operation by a sophisticated group of thieves. It has also argued that, by design, it was not privy to details of exactly what customers kept in the boxes. 

Lawyer Daniel Kuhlmann says he is representing a total of around 650 customers with claims totaling about €51.5 million.