After more than 80 years, a unique collection of zoological specimens and scientific books looted during World War II from the collections of the pre-war State Zoological Museum in Warsaw returned to Poland from Salzburg.

Looted during World War II from the State Zoological Museum in Warsaw, 37 nature specimens and 46 scientific books returned to Poland thanks to the cooperation of the Department of Restitution of Cultural Property of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (MKiDN) with Haus der Natur in Salzburg and the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

“It is estimated that during World War II Poland lost 70% of its total volume of material cultural heritage – about half a million works of art with only 64,000 objects that are described, documented and cataloged in our database”, emphasized the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Prof. Piotr Gliński.

Deputy Prime Minister noted that the items were stolen from the Zoological Museum in Warsaw in November 1939. He pointed out that the robbery of the collections was led by Eduard Paul Tratz – the then director of the Museum Haus der Natur in Salzburg, acting within the Sonderkommando Paulsen, established by Peter Paulsen, a professor of archeology, in order to rob cultural goods in Poland. “They both belonged to the NSDAP and were ones of the many uniformed scientists who plundered the Polish heritage”, added Prof. Piotr Gliński.

“This is another step towards the settlement of the military history of Haus der Natur. It should be emphasized at this point that these matters have not been settled to this day. Independent Poland did not receive any fair compensation for war losses and robberies, including those related to Polish culture and science”, stated the head of the Ministry of Culture.

Adrian Andrzejewski