Famous Greek author George Lekakis begins his new book with the statement that “The world’s current most important antiquities collections are England’s, France’s, Germany’s and fourth follows Greece, despite the fact that the top three countries never had an ancient history!”
His book “Illicit Trade of Greek Antiquities by Germans During Occupation” appears, at the present time, really up-to-date. Many non-profit organizations, even foreign journalists and governments, call on Britain to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece. As a result, such a discussion about looting of ancient Greek items during war periods are of great importance.
Lekakis includes in his 360-page-long book, evidence he found during his research that lasted 6 years. He also presents the original Official Report of the Greek State published in 1946, which is titled “Damages of the Antiquities Due to the War and the Occupators.”
“I did not refer to human losses, executions of civilians, kids, women and elders, which cannot be compensated by the Germans or anyone. We [had] 1,100,000 fellow countrymen during WW II, victims of the German brutality. In this book, I write only about the material losses, these that can be estimated,” said Lekakis.
More specifically, there have been documented 8,500 stolen items (neolithic, ancient, belonging to churches, etc.), the value of which amounts to more than 1 trillion.
“The German army officers had a list with ‘German-like’ ancient items and transferred them to their country everything that, in their opinion, seemed German,” stresses the writer. “When some Greek antiquities guards told them that they should not steal the sculptures, the Germans replied, “Don’t interfere, because these are not yours,” continues Lekakis.
“This looting of our cultural heritage cannot be written off by any intenational treaties or agreements, not even International Law. In short, Germans owe us much more than the occupation loans,” concludes Lekakis.
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