Designer chair theft: Lübeck in the criminals' crosshairs!

Designer chair theft: Lübeck in the criminals' crosshairs!

In an unexpected turn of events, the University of Lübeck cafeteria has become the focus of a mysterious theft. Overnight, 60 valuable designer chairs that are considered true classics disappeared there. There is great disappointment, both among employees and students, who speculate with astonishment about the sudden lack of seats. The chef Andreas Mildner is perplexed by the unnoticed removal of the chairs and the police have now started an investigation to get to the bottom of the incident. Hopefully the search for clues will shed light on the whereabouts of the missing chairs, which remain untraceable. Zeit reports that the cafeteria in the heart of the Lübeck campus serves up to 1,800 students daily, and the theft could have serious consequences.

The situation is alarming because Lübeck is not the only place where such criminal activities have taken place. Designer chairs were also stolen in several cities in northern Germany, including Braunschweig and Oldenburg. Since the end of 2024, around 80 bright yellow Rey chairs that date from the 1970s and have a collector's value of several hundred euros each have disappeared in Braunschweig. It seems that there is a serial criminal who has a knack for valuable design objects and who uses the inconspicuous cafeterias as his playground. PNP informs that numerous designer chairs also disappeared in Oldenburg in June; A security employee saw several people loading chairs into a van and thought it was a university project.

The fascination of designer chairs

The chairs that are stolen from the cafeterias are not just simple pieces of furniture. They have a high status in the world of design and are very popular with collectors. Michael Gruner, the head of university catering in Braunschweig, confessed that he was not aware of the value of these chairs. [MZ].

Police are currently investigating whether the stolen chairs may be available for sale on online platforms. The statistics speak for themselves: the damage could easily be in the five-figure range. Christiane Thoroe, spokeswoman for the East Lower Saxony Student Union, expressed the hope that the chairs would be found again soon and called on the public to report information. Since the missing chairs are not immediately noticed, there is a high probability that someone saw something.

One thing is clear: this “new scam” of theft in cafeterias shows how valuable and at the same time vulnerable such public facilities are. It will be exciting to see how the investigation continues and whether the chairs that disappeared without a trace might find their way back one day.