February 2001 - Nr. 2
Czarist Documents returned to St. Petersburg
TWIG - Thanks to a bit of international detective work, a collection of historical papers that surfaced in Berlin is now back in St. Petersburg. More than 1,000 documents the reign of the Czars between 1723 and 1914 were stolen from an archive in St. Petersburg in 1995. A portion of the booty was later offered to a Berlin art dealer, who contacted authorities in Russia. German and Russian police thereupon worked together to recover the documents and catch the perpetrators. Two suspects were caught and subsequently convicted by Russian court.
Mayor Eberhard Diepgen presided over the formal return of the stolen documents to Russian hands at a ceremony in Berlin. "We feel deeply grateful for Berlin’s gesture," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov declared during the proceedings. Diepgen used the occasion to suggest the cooperative effort might pave the way for closer cultural ties between the two countries. "It should be completely self-evident that we exchange our cultural property," said the mayor.
