The looted treasures will return to Poland. The Germans return the Polish-Teutonic archives and a priceless sculpture

73 parchment documents from the 13th-15th centuries from the collections of the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw and the head of Saint. James the Elder – a fragment of a sculpture from the 14th century from the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the High Castle in Malbork – are returning from Germany to Poland – informed the Ministry of Culture.

“This is the most important and valuable return of looted cultural heritage objects in the modern history of Poland,” emphasizes the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in a statement.

During intergovernmental consultations, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Marta Cienkowska, submitted to the German side nine restitution applications covering 35 lost monuments.

“A historic day! Poland is recovering from Germany the priceless Polish-Teutonic archives looted during the war. The head of Saint James the Elder – a fragment of a sculpture from the 14th century – stolen after the war, is also returning to Poland. This is a real breakthrough in the talks on the return of the looted works, which have been ongoing since 1948,” said Minister Cienkowska, quoted by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

She added that she received a guarantee from the German government's plenipotentiary for culture and media, Minister Wolfram Weimer, to speed up the processing of subsequent applications.

Cienkowska thanked the restitution team of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski and the teams of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. (PAP)

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