Poland demands the return of seven paintings stolen by Russia during WW-II
With the geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine currently escalating, Poland has demanded the return of seven paintings which it claims were stolen by Russia during the Second World War. According to the Polish government, these invaluable pieces were looted by Soviet forces and are currently housed in Moscow’s Pushkin State Museum of Fine Art.
Piotr Glinski, Poland’s Minister of Culture and National Heritage has submitted a formal request to the Russian government asking for the artworks back. This is in tandem with a newly launched project called “Empty Frames”, where Polish museums are presenting empty picture frames to make a statement on the stolen art.
Anna Turowska, a spokesperson for the ministry, said: “All seven paintings were recognised in the catalogue Italian Paintings of the 14th–18th Centuries by Victoria Markova, from the Pushkin museum. Browsing through both the catalogues and the digitised collections of museums all over the world is an essential task.”
Russia’s international cultural envoy – Mikhail Shvydkoy – responded to these demands by condemning Poland. He retorted: “In the current conditions of unprecedented sanctions against the Russian Federation, the ‘cancellation’ of Russian culture in Europe, I consider the presentation of such claims by European states to be immoral.”
Another Russian spokesperson claimed that the “kinds of valuables” demanded by Poland actually belong “to a special category, as they were transported to the territory of the Soviet Union as restitution to compensate for the actions of Nazi Germany and its allies during the Great Patriotic War.”
