Russia exhibits German looted German treasure

Burying the Hatchet

Russian and German museums set aside their differences to cooperate on an exhibition of "trophy art" taken from Berlin by the Red Army in 1945.
By Marina Kamenev
Published: March 9, 2007

The issue of "trophy art" has been a source of tension between Russia and Germany since World War II. But a new exhibition at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts called "Era of the Merovingians: Europe Without Borders" puts politics aside to showcase objects that have been in storage for more than six decades.

The exhibition, which opens to the public on Tuesday, features around 1,200 artifacts connected with the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled much of present-day France and Germany from the 5th to the 8th centuries. Most of the pieces on display were stored in a Berlin bunker during World War II and taken to the Soviet Union by the victorious Red Army in 1945.

But in contrast to an earlier exhibition that also featured artworks taken from Nazi Germany -- "The Archeology of War: Return From Oblivion," which opened at the Pushkin Museum in April 2005, just before celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, and caused an angry reaction in Germany -- the current exhibition was organized in cooperation with German state museums.

In fact, one of the four museums that helped organize the exhibition -- Berlin's Museum for Pre- and Early History -- is the same museum that held the artifacts until they were taken by the Soviets. Wilfried Menghin, the museum's current director and a co-curator of the exhibition, said that he hoped the items would eventually make their way back to Germany, but he was realistic about his expectations.

"They are German pieces, so naturally I would like to see them in Germany," he said by telephone from Berlin. "But I am happy they have been kept in such good condition, with no damage to the items. The most important thing is that they are on display for the public to see."

The other three museums that helped organize the exhibition are all Russian: the Pushkin Museum and the Historical Museum in Moscow and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. After the exhibition closes next month, it will travel to the Hermitage.

All the items on display date back to the era of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled from 476 to 750 and is traditionally seen as the "first race" of the kings of France. During its rule, the dynasty conquered nearly all of present-day France and Germany and parts of Austria. Ironically, the Merovingians were known for looting the treasures of the countries they conquered.

Among the finds that Menghin finds particularly interesting is a 1.4-kilogram gold neck ring discovered at a site in present-day Poland. Menghin also mentioned a collection of weapons and gold jewelry dating back to the 6th and 7th centuries found in Weimar, Germany.

Menghin said his museum lost about 11,500 pieces to the Soviet Union following the defeat of Nazi Germany.

During World War II, the most valuable pieces in the museum's collection were kept in a bunker near the Berlin zoo. What happened next is a matter of dispute. The Pushkin Museum offers a rather tame version in its statement about the current exhibition: "On May 5, 1945, then-director of the [Berlin Museum for Pre- and Early History] Wilhelm Unverzagt gave the pieces stored in the bunker to the Soviet authorities. In June, three crates with 1,538 unique gold and silver items were transported by plane to Moscow."
The items were among more than 200,000 artworks transferred from Germany to the Soviet Union as restitution for damages the Germans inflicted on Soviet cultural treasures during the war. Most of them were kept in storage and rarely displayed.

In the last two decades, the German government has tried to reclaim some of these items. But for Russia the issue is a nonstarter. In 1998, the State Duma passed a law affirming Russia's right to hold onto them. The law does not apply to items that were looted by individual soldiers and officers, or that were initially confiscated from their rightful owners by the Nazi regime.

"The best parts of our collection are in Russia," Menghin said sadly. "But we hope with collaborations in the distant future, some of our collection may find its way back to Germany."

Innokenty Alekseyev, a lawyer who advises on art-related matters, was skeptical that the collection would return to Germany anytime soon. "The only way the works would find their way back to Germany would be through political goodwill on behalf of Russia, which in this current climate looks doubtful," he said by telephone.

When the curator of the exhibition from the Pushkin Museum, Vladimir Tolstikov, was asked by telephone for his opinion on the status of the artworks, his response was clear.

"The works were relocated to Russia in 1945," he said. "I refuse to comment on the topic further. I'm a scholar, not a politician."

"Era of the Merovingians: Europe Without Borders" (Epokha Merovingov: Yevropa bez Granits) runs from Tues. to May 13 at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, located at 12 Ulitsa Volkhonka. Tel. 203-7998/9578.