tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3279887958085077691.post8735346507112468343..comments2024-02-22T10:35:12.485-08:00Comments on Cultural Property Observer: May 2, 2018 Cultural Property Advisory Committee Meeting to Discuss Ecuadorian MOU and Renewal of MOU with PRCCultural Property Observerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05924359202414555962noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3279887958085077691.post-18133621531652047662018-06-01T06:54:14.563-07:002018-06-01T06:54:14.563-07:00Not sure how to contact you without "leaving ...Not sure how to contact you without "leaving a comment"--this is NOT a comment on this item.<br /><br />The Spring 2018 issue of The Israel Museum Magazine, p. 41, has an amazing story of REVERSE Cultural Property Repatriation, "Medal From the Polish Government Awarded to Haim Gitler." It seems that some of the 325,000 Poles who fled the German invasion of 1939 made it to Siberia, and from thence to the Middle East to fight the Nazis in Africa, passing through Iran, Iraq, and Palestine. Along the way, "some of the soldiers found and collected archaeological artifacts," which must have been mostly coins since Dr. Gitler is Chief Curator of Archaeology and Curator of Numismatics at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and he was accompanied by Dr. Don Ariel, who is chief of numismatics at the Israel Antiquities Authority. These antiquities were deposited in a Polish convent in the Old City of Jerusalem before the solders left for Africa.<br /><br />But instead of sending them back to the several source countries, Dr. Gitler facilitated "the permanent export of these objects to Poland from the Israel Antiquities Authority," for which he was awarded a special decoration by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage; i.e., the source countries were stiffed and the home country of the "looters and pillagers" was rewarded. Probably the material was heavy in Widow's Mites and 4th Century Roman coins, of which the IAA and the Israel Museum have tens of thousands already. There may have been a political aspect also, in trying to cement good relations with Poland.<br /><br />Still, this is a first, and we may hope that it sets some sort of precedent.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03547135935666577445noreply@blogger.com