Posted on 03/15/2002 5:51:03 PM PST by dighton
A man who admitted holding a dog to ransom in a dispute over a £2 million chalice which belonged to the Nazi leader Hermann Goering has been jailed for nine months.
Derick Smith came by the solid silver foot-high treasure after it was taken from the ruins of the Gestapo founder's country home at the end of Second World War by a British soldier.
Smith, 51, had the chalice for 27 years and claims to have had it authenticated at the National History Museum in Berlin.
The circumstances of how the dispute over the chalice's ownership ended up at Newcastle Crown Court were "somewhat bizarre," Tim Gittins, prosecuting, said. At a court hearing last month, the defendant admitted the charge of blackmail.
Smith had taken his victim's boxer dog and made veiled threats that the pet would be harmed if she did not return the chalice. He had left it in her possession as repayment for an alleged debt of £40,000, the court heard.
The chalice bears an inscription saying, "In memory of the great time 7.3.36" and was believed to have been made for Goering to mark the German invasion of the Rhineland in 1936. Mr Gittins said it was estimated the object would fetch up to £2 million at auction.
In June last year, Smith handed over the chalice to the victim, who deposited it in a bank. At the same time, her daughter went on holiday and Smith, of Sunderland, offered to take her boxer dog for a walk.
During that walk, Smith claimed the dog ran off but later telephoned his victim saying he wanted the chalice back and could not vouch for the dog's safety as he himself was in poor health.
The court heard an exchange was arranged but the victim's daughter had switched the chalice for a vacuum flask on police instruction and Smith was arrested and the dog safely returned.
Osama Daneshyar, defending, said Smith had never harmed the dog and he regretted the incident, adding that Smith was receiving treatment for psychological and heart problems. "He did a foolish thing and he accepts that," Mr Daneshyar said.
Copyright © 2002 Ananova Ltd
Confirming sign of psychosis: he hires a lawyer named Osama
We've been warned again and again.
Appalling confession: I hadn't noticed that.
Yes, but most of us aren't fluent in Ooni.
Friday, June 22, 2001 - UK
NORTHUMBRIA — "Ok lady, hand over the Nazi cup, or the pooch gets it." It's not exactly a phrase you hear in polite society these days, is it? Come to think of it, it's not exactly a phrase you hear. But unless we somehow got our newswire crossed with the WWII History Channel and the Home Shopping Network, here's the story:
News broke this morning of a bizarre dog-napping that has its roots in the sordid history of the Third Reich at the end of WWII. A metal chalice once belonging to Nazi leader Hermann Goering is being demanded as ransom in exchange for a woman's beloved Boxer pooch.
When the Allies raided the Nazi lair in 1945, the chalice was allegedly wrapped in curtains and smuggled into England by a Sunderland soldier George Armstrong. Later fearing the stigma of owning such a controversial piece, the soldier decided to hide it in the attic where it stayed until his death, reported the Sunderland Echo in 1999 when the chalice resurfaced.
The item next passed on to family friend Derick Smith and eventually on to the woman (whose identity has not yet been released).
The woman's dog was stolen late this week from her residence while she was on a hospital visit.
Although this crook's scheme is not exactly worthy of a James Bond plot (Austin Powers, maybe), such a relic could perhaps fetch a pretty penny if a buyer were to be found. But apparently, that's a big "if". A spokesperson for a major metropolitan museum told Scoop reporters, "With the recent publicity surrounding this piece—the distinctive markings and singularity—a thief may be lucky to fetch a few hundred bucks from some sucker on EBay."
With any luck it won't come to that. The Northumbria Police have already made one arrest and are questioning the suspect with regard to the dog-napping. The chalice remains for the time being in police custody.
Source: http://www.dogsinthenews.com/issues/0106/articles/010622b.htm
When the Nazis came to power, Goering was made Minister of the Interior for Prussia, the largest German "State". This office controlled most of the police forces in Germany, and of the Geheime Staats Polizei (GESTAPO), in particular. In 1934, Goering gave control of the Gestapo to Himmler, as a payment for his assistance in the Night of the Long Knives coup that eliminated Ernst Roehm, leader of the SA and Goering's arch rival in the Nazi Party. Himmler combined the Gestapo with the Bavarian Political Police, (Germany's other secret police, which he already controlled) and with his SS, thus becoming an even bigger rival to Goering, but that is another story... .
In 1933, Goering also became the head of the Air Force, or Luftwaffe, the role for which he is most often remembered. He supervised its tremendous expansion, from a handful of prototype and trainers to the most powerful and modern air force in the world. He also supervised the reorganization of the German economy, which both prepared it for war and created the prosperity that the Nazis needed to satisfy most of the German public. Recognizing these achievements Hitler named Goering to be his successor (1939) and appointed him Reichsmarschall (Marshal of the Empire), in 1940.
Source: http://www.euronet.nl/users/wilfried/ww2/goering.htm
II. Hail Für!
NEWCASTLE, UK — Derek Smith from Sunderland recently pleaded guilty to blackmail at Newcastle Crown Court in response to charges that he had stolen a woman's dog and was holding it in an attempt to retrieve a silver chalice that once belonged to World War II Nazi leader Hermann Goering (read The Scoop, June 22, 2001: "Ok Lady, Hand Over the Nazi Cup or the Pooch Gets It").
According to BBC News, 51-year-old Smith told the court that he had given the foot-high chalice to a woman as payment for a £30,000 debt he owed her. Only later did he realize that the relic was valued at about £2 million (although many auctioneers noted that they would be reluctant to handle the sale of the object).
Detective Sergeant Chris Sybenga described how the Northumbria Police solved the case: "We recovered the dog safe and well. When he came for the exchange, the police swooped."
Derek Smith was granted conditional bail and will be sentenced tomorrow, Mar. 15, at Newcastle Crown Court. (Photo: BBC News)
Source: http://www.dogsinthenews.com/issues/0203/articles/020315a.htm
Experts believe the silver vessel may have once belonged to World War II Nazi leader Hermann Goering.
Derek Smith, from Sunderland, had given the foot-high chalice to a woman to cover a £30,000 debt he owed her.
However he did not realise the artefact's true value and captured the victim's beloved pet in an attempt to get it back.
 The chalice once belonged to Hermann Goering
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After Smith pleaded guilty to blackmail at Newcastle Crown Court, Detective Sergeant Chris Sybenga said he was pleased the victim was spared the ordeal of having to give evidence.
He said outside the court: "There was never any suggestion that he physically asked for the chalice back - he had given her the chalice because of the debt he owed her.
Secret location
"He took the dog obviously to persuade her and that is the essence of the blackmail.
"We recovered the dog safe and well. When he came for the exchange, the police swooped."
Northumbria Police now have the chalice in a secret and secure location.
Smith will be sentenced on March 15 at Newcastle Crown Court and was granted conditional bail.
The chalice bears an inscription saying "In memory of the great time 7.3.36" - believed to have been made for Goering to mark the German invasion of the Rhineland in 1936.
Ownership wrangle
Mr Sybenga said many auctioneers were reluctant to handle the sale of the object because of the fear of offending Jewish investors.
Further legal action is expected to decide the future of the chalice.
Mr Sybenga added: "There's certainly going to be some form of civil proceedings to decide the ownership of the chalice.
"There could be a number of people claiming entitlement to it if it is authenticated, the German government or even relatives of Hermann Goering."
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_1816000/1816865.stm
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Source: http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/pages/t018/t01806.html
Goering and Kaltenbrunner were members of the Gestapo. Goering, the founder of the Gestapo, bragged that every Gestapo bullet fired was his bullet, and that he assumed full responsibility for the acts of the Gestapo and was not afraid to do so. Source: http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-22/tgmwc-22-214-14.shtml |
The executions were to take place on October 16. Some time during the preceding night Göring killed himself. The enormous clown, the sexual quiddity with the smile which was perhaps too wooden for mockery and perhaps not, had kicked the tray out of the hands of the servants who were bringing him the wine of humiliation, the glasses had flown into the air and splintered with a sound too much like laughter. . . . All those people who had fled from Nuremberg, British and American and French, who were scattered over the world, trying to forget the place of their immurement, would straighten up from whatever they had been bent over and burst out laughing before they could help themselves, saying, "That one! We always knew he would get the better of us yet." Surely all those Germans who walked through the rubble of their cities while their conquerors drove, they too would halt, and throw back their heads, and laugh, and say, "That one! We always knew he would get the better of them yet."-- Rebecca West, Greenhouse with Cyclamens I, in A Train of Powder.
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