Researchers in Germany have revealed details of antiquities that were looted from the Greek island of Samos and are now located in Berlin museums.
Samos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea and is well-known for its vineyards and wine production, red pottery, iron mines, arts and crafts with bronze, and olive oil.
According to a Deutsche Welle report, a book has been published after years of research documenting in detail the looting of antiquities between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The book ‘Constantinople – Samos - Berlin. Forfeiture, division of finds and clandestine export of antiquities on the eve of the First World War” consists of essays that reconstruct in detail the history of excavations the then Royal Museums in Berlin conducted between the late 19th and early 20th centuries on the Greek island of Samos.
The essays reveal about the 250 antiquities illegally exported and how the Germans then attempted to profit from power imbalances against the background of political instability in Samos.
Before World War I, the eastern Mediterranean region experienced political turmoil and uncertainty. From July 1913 to March 1914, negotiations that raised considering loans to the Ottoman state by German banks were discussed between Berlin and Constantinople, mentioning a significant part of the former Imperial (Archaeological) Museum was pledged as collateral.
The purpose was to bring the most valuable antiquities to Germany and display them in the Royal Museums of Berlin. However, this ‘museum deal’ eventually remained incomplete and enabled German banks to gain ownership of the antiquities.
Suspicious shipping methods
Martin Maischberger, the deputy director of the Berlin Collection of Antiquities, explained that the root of the research became a lot more strenuous with the shifting of documents from the Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage to Moscow after World War II. Some excavated findings were legally transported to Germany, but others were often exported illegally.
He added that the role of archaeologists Theodor Wiegand and Martin Schede regarding the accession of these antiquities needed more critical assessment.
The injustice to Samos
Uncovering the book on April 7, Christina Haak, the deputy director-general of the State Museums, said, “The injustice of the time is still injustice more than 100 years later”. She also added that talks have already begun with the Greek side, “but we are only at the beginning.”
