Jewish group cedes artifacts to Leipzig after heir protests

The Jewish Claims Conference has agreed to cede ownership of a collection of Ehyptian antiquities to the Leipzig museum that has housed them for 80 years, ending a dispute with the grandson of Georg Steindorff, the Nazi-era owner.

After winning a 16-year legal battle against Leipzig University to secure the 163 artifacts, the Claims Conference has said that the collection will remain where it is. A Berlin court ruled on May 26 that the sale was made under duress and thus invalid. It ordered the collection to be transferred to the Claims Conference -- against the wishes of th

Read more at Bloomberg.

Heir fights restitution of Egyptian artifacts

The grandson of the Egyptologist Georg Steindorff has entered the debate surrounding the Germany court ruling that the University of Leipzig must hand over its collection of 150 Egyptian artifacts to the Jewish Claims Conference. He believes the collection should stay in Germany.

The university bought the collection in 1936 from Professor Steindorff. The court said Steindorff had been forced to sell his collection under Nazi rule for a value far below its actual worth.

Grandson Thomas Hemer, 88, now living in Nevada, has journeyed to Leipzig, to fight for the legacy of his grandfather, an Egyptologist of Jewish origin forced to leave Germany after the Nazis came to power.

Losing the collection “would destroy an institute that my grandfather cherished,” Hemer said in an interview at the museum in Leipzig, reports Bloomberg.

See: Head of Nefertiti embroiled in German court ruling on Egyptian artifacts

Head of Nefertiti embroiled in German court ruling on Egyptian artifacts

The legal complexities surrounding the University of Leipzig's Egyptology collection could become even more tangled, it seems.

Last week a German court ruled that the University of must hand over its collection of 150 Egyptian artifacts to the Jewish Claims Conference.

Among the objects are the Ebers Papyrus, a medical papyrus purchased by George Ebers, and a small limestone head of the queen Nefertiti, wife of the monotheistic king Akhenaten.

The University of Leipzig bought the ccollection in 1936 from a Jewish professor, Professor Georg Steindorff. The court said Steindorff had been forced to sell his collection under Nazi rule for a value far below its actual worth.

Now Leipzig residents are angry the museum would be losing its collection, and under this pressure the Leipzig University is to appeal against the court ruling.

Meanwhile, Zahi Hawass, Minister of State for Antiquities, has sent an official letter to the Jewish Claims Conference - an umbrella alliance of 24 international Jewish organizations seeking compensation for Holocaust victims and their descendants - demanding restitution of these objects, and threatened to file a lawsuit against it before German and international courts if the JCC did not comply.

Georg Steindorff had held Leipzig's Egyptology chair and emigrated from Nazi Germany to the US where he died in 1951. The professor had collected the antiquities on research trips.

For more Click HERE

See: University must surrender collection of Egyptian antiquities

University must surrender collection of Egyptian antiquities

A university's collection Egyptian antiquities must be handed over to the Jewish Claims Conference, an umbrella alliance of 24 international Jewish organizations seeking compensation for Holocaust victims and their descendants,

A court in Germany has ruled that the University of Leipzig is to lose the collection which it bought in 1936 from a Jewish professor, Professor Georg Steindorff. The court said Steindorff had been forced to sell his collection under Nazi rule for a value far below its actual worth.

Georg Steindorff had held Leipzig's Egyptology chair and emigrated from Nazi Germany to the US where he died in 1951.

Leipzig university produced no evidence to counter the charge that Steindorff had been forced to sell his collection.

The professor had collected the antiquities on research trips.

Source: Monsters & Critics