Joint press release from the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Prussian Cultural Heritage ...

Shared responsibility for the history of Europe - Germany returns further war-displaced cultural property to Poland

Today, at the German-Polish Forum, various cultural objects that were removed or displaced during Germany's occupation of Poland in the Second World War were returned to the Republic of Poland. These returns reflect the close cooperation between Germany and Poland on confronting historical injustice and are an expression of Germany's responsibility towards Poland.

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul lauded the returns:

The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Wolfram Weimer, said:

The President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Marion Ackermann, said:

Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder said:

The Mayor of Pforzheim, Peter Boch, said:

Background information

Cooperation on the return of war-displaced cultural property has gained considerable momentum since the German-Polish intergovernmental consultations of 1 December 2025. A German-Polish working group set up on the initiative of Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz and under the lead responsibility of the Federal Foreign Office is working with the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the embassies of the two countries to process requests for returns.

The cultural objects returned today all have their own, often turbulent, provenance history.

Medieval manuscript with a fragment of the hymn "Gaude Mater Polonia"

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation is returning a medieval manuscript bearing part of the text of the Polish hymn "Gaude Mater Polonia". It is not as yet known how the manuscript, comprising six parchment sheets, came to be in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, where it was kept as external property. It originates from the library of the seminary in Płock, whose holdings were plundered and largely destroyed during the Second World War.

The German occupying authorities removed the most valuable manuscripts from the library and took them to Königsberg. It has not yet been possible to clarify for certain how the manuscript then came to be in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. However, visible stamps from the seminary library provide conclusive proof of its origin.

It is likely that the three double sheets were originally part of a codex from the late 14th century. Given signs such as stains, folds and cuts, it is presumed that they were detached from the codex in the 16th or 17th century and used in another book.

The object can be seen here: https://resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB0003972B00000000.

Miniature railways and accessories from Warsaw Transport Museum

The Federal Ministry of Transport is returning eleven objects which were originally part of the collection of Warsaw Transport Museum and were in the possession of the Federal Railway Property Agency. The model railways and accessories were exhibited in Warsaw up until the summer of 1940, and were brought to the then Verkehrs- und Baumuseum Berlin (Transport and Construction Museum) during the German occupation.

Their origin could be reconstructed on the basis of historical accession registers. Back when the holdings of what is now known as the Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Museum of Technology) in Berlin were being scientifically catalogued, it was already possible to ascertain that the objects had been "taken over from Warsaw Transport Museum" in September 1940. Since 2003, they had been registered as war-displaced cultural property on the Lost Art online database.

Jagiellonian ring from Pforzheim Jewellery Museum

The Mayor of the City of Pforzheim is handing over a ring dating from the first half of the 16th century that is thought to have belonged to King Sigismund I the Old. The ring may have been a gift from his wife Bona Sforza, and was probably one of the relics in the so-called Royal Casket of the Czartoryski princely family in Kraków.

Shortly before Germany's invasion of Poland, the collection was transported to Sieniawa and hidden, but it was plundered by German soldiers, probably in September 1939. The ring later found its way to Germany and in 1963 was gifted to Pforzheim Jewellery Museum as part of a large collection of rings.

The ring, made of high-carat yellow gold, bears a diamond of approx. 3.5 carats and is regarded as an outstanding example of Renaissance courtly jewellery.

Today's returns are the latest of several returns of cultural property, including those of charters of the Teutonic Order and of a sculptural head from Malbork Castle to Poland. The German Government will continue to examine further requests from Poland for returns and, within the framework of the working group, systematically drive forward cooperation with the relevant institutions at federal, Land and municipal levels.