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GrzeM · 1 December 2005, 06:30 AM

Rammjaeger!

My German is not enough to make me sure of that, but I suppose that the "Beutekunst" refers to the artifacts taken from original places of storage - so can be called "looted".
(For example from Berlin museum to Moscow).

On the other hand, almost all German things Poland posess was not looted from German hands, but found abandoned on the former German territories given to Poland by Yalta conference (technically by Red Army), against Polish will, as replacement for Eastern territories of Poland lost to Soviet Union.

For example WWI airplanes from Berlin collection which are now in Krakow were found after the war on pre-war(!) Polish territory, near Poznan, where they have been transported by Germans during the war to keep it out of reach of Allied bombings. Ironically, that collection included several Polish airplanes looted by Germans in Poland in 1939 (P.11c, PWS 26), and several non-German planes captured or looted during WWI (Camel, DH9, Grigorovich).
Similar was the story of the Prussian Library, which was found after the war in Poland hidden in some mountain mines and is now preserved in Krakow University.

"The international issues presented above come within the remit of the Office of Government Plenipotentiary for Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad. The Office has been documenting Poland’s war losses and conducting searches for various items in Russia, in former Soviet republics, as well as combing Czech and Slovak archives. On the other hand, art objects lost during the war which have now resurfaced in Germany, the United States or Israel come within the competence of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry also handles negotiations on the cultural assets which before 1939 belonged to German institutions, and which are now in Polish collections. In the latter case the argument centres on the ownership of what is known as the Prussian Library, a rich collection of manuscripts, incunabula, old prints and unique editions of 19th and 20th century works. Before World War II these were owned by Berlin’s Prussian Library. After 1945 the Prussian Library collections resurfaced in an area which had become Polish, and currently belong to the Jagiellonian University of Kraków. The German side is of the opinion that the collection in question being a national cultural asset of the highest order should be returned to Berlin. The Polish Government, however, works on the assumption, that Poland has never been fully compensated for the immensity of damage and destruction inflicted by the war on the Polish heritage, and is therefore in no hurry to hand the Prussian Library back

The heritage-related Polish-Ukrainian negotiations are as difficult. This time round it is the Polish side that lays claim to the precious Lvov Library which prior to 1939 was the property of the Polish Foundation set up by the aristocratic Ossoliƒski family. It will be remembered in this connection that in 1993 Ukraine received from Poland, courtesy of President Walesa, six volumes of papers from the archive of Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine’s greatest poet. Ukraine is yet to return the compliment."
(from here:http://home.btclick.com/polishembass...8_lecture.html)

Cheers!
G.

1 December 2005, 06:30 AM	#38 (permalink)
GrzeM Forum Ace Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Warsaw Posts: 679	Rammjaeger! My German is not enough to make me sure of that, but I suppose that the "Beutekunst" refers to the artifacts taken from original places of storage - so can be called "looted". (For example from Berlin museum to Moscow). On the other hand, almost all German things Poland posess was not looted from German hands, but found abandoned on the former German territories given to Poland by Yalta conference (technically by Red Army), against Polish will, as replacement for Eastern territories of Poland lost to Soviet Union. For example WWI airplanes from Berlin collection which are now in Krakow were found after the war on pre-war(!) Polish territory, near Poznan, where they have been transported by Germans during the war to keep it out of reach of Allied bombings. Ironically, that collection included several Polish airplanes looted by Germans in Poland in 1939 (P.11c, PWS 26), and several non-German planes captured or looted during WWI (Camel, DH9, Grigorovich). Similar was the story of the Prussian Library, which was found after the war in Poland hidden in some mountain mines and is now preserved in Krakow University. "The international issues presented above come within the remit of the Office of Government Plenipotentiary for Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad. The Office has been documenting Poland’s war losses and conducting searches for various items in Russia, in former Soviet republics, as well as combing Czech and Slovak archives. On the other hand, art objects lost during the war which have now resurfaced in Germany, the United States or Israel come within the competence of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry also handles negotiations on the cultural assets which before 1939 belonged to German institutions, and which are now in Polish collections. In the latter case the argument centres on the ownership of what is known as the Prussian Library, a rich collection of manuscripts, incunabula, old prints and unique editions of 19th and 20th century works. Before World War II these were owned by Berlin’s Prussian Library. After 1945 the Prussian Library collections resurfaced in an area which had become Polish, and currently belong to the Jagiellonian University of Kraków. The German side is of the opinion that the collection in question being a national cultural asset of the highest order should be returned to Berlin. The Polish Government, however, works on the assumption, that Poland has never been fully compensated for the immensity of damage and destruction inflicted by the war on the Polish heritage, and is therefore in no hurry to hand the Prussian Library back The heritage-related Polish-Ukrainian negotiations are as difficult. This time round it is the Polish side that lays claim to the precious Lvov Library which prior to 1939 was the property of the Polish Foundation set up by the aristocratic Ossoliƒski family. It will be remembered in this connection that in 1993 Ukraine received from Poland, courtesy of President Walesa, six volumes of papers from the archive of Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine’s greatest poet. Ukraine is yet to return the compliment." (from here:http://home.btclick.com/polishembass...8_lecture.html) Cheers! G.