Friendship Yes, Dürer No
On the Gulf Between Russia and Germany in the Dispute over Looted Art
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The Research Centre for Eastern Europe in Bremen laid the foundation on research into the Nazi theft of art in the Soviet Union. The director of the institute, Wolfgang Eichwede, has been trying for 15 years to have the Baldin Collection returned from Russia and has participated in negotiations between Germany and Russia. The experience he gained led him to criticise the Ger-man government, which, due to a lack of flexibility, missed opportunities to settle the issue of looted art in the 1990s. The current situation in Russia leaves hardly any hope for a solution. What is needed is a policy of small steps toward building confidence, unconventional ideas and the lessons of Lessing’s ring parable.
(Osteuropa 1-2/2006, pp. 71–84)