GREEK ANTIQUITIES REMOVED BY THE NAZIS

 

                     

 

US Archives reveal that the Nazis who occupied Greece removed Greek antiquities.  A 47-page document in the US National Archives, recently unearthed by a British historian reveals damages cause to Greek antiquities during Germany’s occupation of the country during 1941-1944.

The document by the Directorate of Civil Affairs of the US War Office was written during and covers a period of time from November 1944 to March 1945.  It was discovered by Graham M Simmons, an English historian, and author who had written over 60 books.  Among others, it reveals that the occupying German army made regular excavations at ancient Olympia and all the Greek antiquities found there we sent to Germany.

Simmons told the Greek press, that on  the 27^th of January 1945 the Directorate of  Civil Affairs of the US War Office issued one of a series of weekly reports from the Headquarters of Land Forces and Military Liaison (Greece) on the status of Classical and Byzantine Monuments in Greece, following the liberation of the country from the German occupation.

 

“The reports are brief and decidedly militaristic in tone, but make fascinating reading,” Simmons said.

Germany has returned to Greece more than 10.600 artifacts, dating from Neolithic times that were removed illegally by Nazi archaeologists during World War II.  The artifacts, most of which were excavated in Thessaly, in 1941, during an operation organized by Hitler’s chief ideologist Alfred Rosenberg.