Status of Richthofen Estate

[Alan]

Has there been any headway into researching the last vestiges of Manfred's artifacts in Russian possession?

Has any official body ever made a serious inquest into this?

Has any private individual(s) ever done so?

Has the Russian Government ever made an Official statement?

I've been wondering about that too, but don't really know about it. What happened to all his stuff? Somebody has to have it. Does anybody know?

I'm in the same boat as you Lepetitrouge...

[Alan]

Just heard from a reliable source that the Richthofen family has been in negotiations with the Russians about this and that they are trying to keep it under wraps for now...and that the Russians may be expecting a big pay day for it.

I'd think the German Government would and should foot the bill for this...

They should get the stuff back without paying for it I think. It's his stuff, he's dead obviously, so it should go to whoever is the Richthofen family now. I don't see how the Russians could expect or want a big payday for the stuff. Anybody interested in WW1 aviation and Richthofen would want this stuff, and I could see them having to pay for it.....but this is his family. If I'm correct when the Russians took over that part of what's now Poland, they just took all the stuff. Does anybody know what happened to it from there? Is it in some obscure Russian museum now?

[Alan]

It's supply and demand and it's not exactly a secret that Herr Richthofen is a national hero. Why should they give it up for free? I'm not defending the Russians but let's face it...their economy can use all the cash they can get......and one should expect it not to be too easy or else it would've been back in German hands a long time ago.

Plus, look at this way, Hitler did a lot of damage in the PR department to the Russian people in the Second Show. Memories like that are hard to erase....

Yeah. It'll be interesting to see what happens. And how much the Germans are willing to pay for it.

[joegertler]

Originally posted by Alan@Mar 21 2004, 10:52 AM
[b]

I'd think the German Government would and should foot the bill for this...

It is more than a question of money. Both sides have been negotiating an exchange for items they want returned, of which the vonR material is one part. Sometime around 1990 One German official involved in the negotiations showed me a vonR personal item that he was allowed to return with. (something of an incentive for further negotiations, perhaps?)
As far as I know, there has not been a breakthrough,yet..There are other complicated negotiations (with underlying emotional considerations) involving similar exchanges between Germany and Poland. Yes Poland has some items German would like returned, also..They were hidden there to prevent their destruction during the bombing of Germany and stayed there after the war was lost. Hope that these exchanges would be negotiated, successfully, were high years ago. but optimism has faded with the passing of the years.

[pmirl]

What about his silver cups that keep popping up every now and then in an auction? Obviously someone is either making money or wants to see how much these items bring on the fair market before they "return" them.


Paul

[Ginger.]

"showed me a vonR personal item that he was allowed to return with."

That sounds intriguing, what was it?