Feb. 14


IRELAND:

Museum to ask retired judge to investigate Nazi art claims


The Hunt Museum in Limerick is to ask a retired senior judge to lead an
investigation into claims that some of its collection may have been looted
by the Nazis.

The judge will be asked to consult with the International Council of
Museums, a UNESCO-backed body, to decide who should carry out detailed
investigative work.

The inquiry follows allegations by the Simon Wiesenthal centre that the
couple who amassed the collection, the late John Hunt and his late wife,'
Gertrude, had business relationships with major dealers in art looted by
the Nazis. These were raised in a letter to the President, Mrs McAleese.

The museum board held a special meeting yesterday after the Minister for
Arts, Mr O'Donoghue, asked it to take action about the allegations
"insofar as they relate to the collection".

The museum chairman, Mr George Stacpoole, who last week dismissed the
Wiesenthal allegations as "hearsay", said yesterday that the concerns must
be given serious consideration.

A senior academic and a museum professional from outside Ireland will be
asked to assist the judge. The museum director, Ms Virginia Teehan, said
she hoped to announce the names of the team within a week.

The board will also ask the Society of Archivists to nominate a
professional expert to compile a detailed list of its archive.

Ms Teehan said the investigation was supported by the Hunts' children,
John jnr and Trudi, who have rejected the allegations.

The museum wanted to address the allegations "in a spirit of co-operation
and professionalism", she said.

But while Ms Teehan said the appointment of a judge would give the inquiry
"the appropriate level of objectivity that it deserves", a museum
consultant who claims to have linked the Hunts' business associates to art
agents for Hitler and Gring said she would not co-operate with the
inquiry.

Ms Erin Gibbons, a Dublin-based museum consultant and archaeologist, said
it was inappropriate to have the judge report directly to the museum.
"This museum is funded by the public purse and some of the collection it
holds was acquired by the State," she said. "The Government should
establish an independent investigation immediately."

The Wiesenthal centre's international liaison director, Dr Shimon Samuels,
said the process "seems to be moving ahead". However, Dr Samuels wants the
board to allow a nominee from the centre to join the investigation.

Ms Teehan said this would have to be considered by the museum board. She
hoped those with information would co-operate.

(source: The Irish Times)




UNITED KINGDOM:

Scramble begins to own the last Nazi treasure


It has belonged to one of Germanys most notorious Nazi leaders, the
British Royal Family and the man who perpetrated the Hitler Diaries hoax.

A gift to Hermann Goering, supreme commander of the Luftwaffe, the
luxurious yacht named after his first wife hosted some of the most
chilling meetings of the Third Reich.

After the Second World War it came into the hands of the British monarchy
who used the yacht for 15 years before handing it back to Goerings family.

It was later bought by Gerd Heidemann, a German journalist who fooled the
world with what he claimed to be the Fhrers diaries.

Now, the Carin II is up for sale again at an auction in the Netherlands.

The boat was a present from the German motor industry in 1937 to mark
Goerings marriage to his second wife, Emmy, but was named after his first
spouse, Carin, who had died of tuberculosis six years earlier.

The 90ft-long Carin II was described by one newspaper as "a symbol of
German shipbuilding supremacy, a floating embassy for the state".

Hitler was a frequent visitor, as was Nazi propaganda minister Josef
Goebbels, SS chief Heinrich Himmler, and his security police leader,
Reinhard Heydrich.

Goering stored the finest wines and cognac aboard, hosted lavish dinners
and shot ducks from a specially constructed platform on the bow.

During the summer of 1940 Goering would sit on the green leather sofa in
the boats splendid wood panelled salon - which remains unchanged to this
day - and study Battle of Britain operational maps on the burr walnut
table.

In 1942, Himmler, Adolf Eichmann and Rudolf Hess, head of the Auschwitz
death camp, met on board a few days after the infamous Wannsee Conference
which drew up plans for the "Final Solution".

The Carin II survived the collapse of the Third Reich virtually unscathed
and was found, moored off Hamburg, by Field Marshal Montgomery who
requisitioned it as Nazi treasure for George VI and his family as a spoil
of war.

The boat was first renamed the Royal Albert and then in 1952, four years
after Prince Charless birth, named after the young Royal in the year
Elizabeth II became Queen.

For 15 years it provided a holiday home for the Royal Family with visits
by the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Margaret and the Prince of Wales.

But eventually the Royals became nervous about using the boat, partly
because of its history and partly over fears that cavorting on a luxury
yacht during a period of post-war austerity was bad for their public
image, and it was handed over to the Goering familys lawyers in 1960.

The family sold the yacht to Gunther Knauth, a Bonn printer, who renamed
it Theresia and kept the boat for 12 years before selling it to Heidemann.

An unashamed Nazi sympathiser, he restored the name Carin II and
entertained numerous prominent Nazis on board, including Karl Wolff,
former head of the SS in Italy and Himmlers liaison officer with Hitler,
and SS General Wilhelm Mohnke, the last commander of the garrison
defending the Reich Chancellery in 1945.

As the yacht became increasingly expensive to maintain, Heidmann persuaded
his employers, Stern magazine, to advance him cash to acquire instalments
of more than 50 volumes of Hitlers diaries, valued at 2.5 million.

All were forgeries, but ones which managed to fool both the Sunday Times
and the distinguished British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper.

In 1983, Heidemann went to prison for his part in the con and Carin II was
put up for auction, eventually being sold to Egyptian-born Mostafa Karim
and his wife, Sandra Simpson.

Still its adventures were not over - in 1987 the couple were caught in a
force-ten gale and washed up on the shores of Libya.

Locked up by Colonel Gaddafi for four months, the couple were eventually
allowed to leave after covert negotiations conducted by the US.

After a series of Mediterranean voyages, the Carin II was sailed to Egypt
and its berth in the Abydos Bay, some 350 miles from Cairo, where it has
remained ever since.

Mrs Simpson, now remarried following her husbands death - values the boat
at 650,000 and wants to bring it to England as a floating museum.

An approach to enquire whether the Prince of Wales might like to purchase
the yacht which once bore his name has been turned down.

Now the boat will go up for auction in the Netherlands.

And so the scramble begins between well-heeled neo-fascists, genuine
historical buffs and the merely rich to own the last complete possession
of a major figure of the Third Reich.

(source: The Scotsman)