GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany — In a German bank heist carried out during the Christmas shutdown, thieves drilled into a Sparkasse bank vault in the city’s Buer district and looted thousands of safe-deposit boxes, police said. Investigators said the crew likely worked during the holiday lull, and early estimates put losses at about 30 million euros; police spokesperson Thomas Nowaczyk said the final total could range between 10 million and 90 million euros, Dec. 30, 2025.
German bank heist: what investigators say happened
Emergency crews were called shortly before 4 a.m. Monday after a fire alarm went off, and officers found a large hole bored through a thick wall and a vault room strewn with opened boxes, the Associated Press reported. Police believe the crew used a large drill and exploited the quiet holiday period, when many German banks close from Christmas Eve, Reuters reported.
Police and the bank say about 2,700 customers rented boxes at the branch, and that more than 3,000 were forced open. In the German bank heist, German broadcaster ZDF reported the bank believes more than 95% of roughly 3,250 customer boxes were broken into, and that the first estimate was based largely on insured values.
Investigators are also chasing leads from an adjacent parking garage. Witnesses reported seeing men carrying large bags in the stairwell over the weekend, and video captured a black Audi RS 6 leaving early Monday with masked occupants and a license plate linked to a vehicle stolen in Hanover, according to Reuters and ZDF. ZDF also reported police are reviewing whether an earlier fire-alarm callout Saturday morning should have raised red flags.
The robbery’s fallout has been immediate. Reuters reported angry customers gathered outside the branch Tuesday, chanting “Let us in!” and demanding information, while AP said the branch remained closed as police secured the scene and bank staff assessed damage.
What is still unclear is a familiar problem in safe-deposit thefts: valuation. For customers caught up in the German bank heist, the most difficult part may be proving what was inside. Banks typically do not know what is stored in rented boxes, and investigators have stressed that a preliminary figure based on insurance limits is not the same as a final accounting.
In a customer update, Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen said it will notify affected customers by mail and set up hotline numbers for people who rented boxes at the Buer branch. The bank said contents of a box are insured up to 10,300 euros, and customers may be asked to compile an inventory list and provide documentation to support a claim.
The German bank heist has also revived comparisons to other high-value “vault” crimes in Europe. A 2015 burglary at London’s Hatton Garden Safe Deposit facility involved heavy drilling equipment and a holiday-lull timetable, Time reported. Germany has faced its own headline-grabbing thefts, including the 2019 break-in at Dresden’s Green Vault museum, The Guardian reported; in 2023, a German court convicted five men in connection with that case, Artnet News reported.
Police in Gelsenkirchen say the investigation is continuing and are urging anyone who saw suspicious activity around the branch or parking garage during the Christmas period to contact authorities.
