Antiquities looted in WWII will be repatriated to Greece

I'm not exactly sure how I missed this, but it seems that antiquities that were unearthed in Greece and ended up in Germany during WWII will soon be repatriated. Among them are 10,600 fragments of clay vessels, stone artifacts, and osteological material that were unearthed during excavations carried out between June and December 1941 by the Nazi occupation forces. The formal ceremony for the return of the antiquities was held at Pfahlibau Museum in the German city of Unteruhldingen.

10,600 antiquities kept in German museums since WWII will be
repatriated to Greece [Credit: To Vima]

Culture & Sports Minister Konstantinos Tassoulas referred to the symbolism of the gesture and to incidents of antiquity smuggling and destruction recorded across Greece during the Nazi occupation. He also referred to the recent repatriation of archaeological material unearthed at the site of Magoula Visviki and neolithic sites in Thessaly, central Greece, noting that such moves contribute decisively to the strengthening of bilateral ties. The National Archaeological Museum will be the first stop of the repatriated antiquities before they are transferred to local museums.

Personally, I am very happy to see this step made, and hope many more initiatives like this will follow. Looted antiquities will always remain a sore point, and their return to the country of origin--those pieces that were not destroyed or lost to private collectors--not just to Greece but any country of origin is something I greatly applaud. This is where these pieces belong, after all.