Remarks by the Ambassador
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Ambassador John Beyrle hands over the stolen book to Mr. Viktor Petrakov, the Head of the Department for the Preservation of Cultural Property of Rosokhrankultura
Remarks by Ambassador John Beyrle at the Book Repatriation Ceremony
October 22, 2008
We are taking part today in a significant event both for Russian Culture and for Russian-American relations; the return of a book stolen from the library of Czar Alexander III at Gatchina Palace during World War II, and returned today thanks to the alertness of experts of Rosokhrankultura and the cooperation between the Russian Government and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The return of this book would make a good detective story. No one knows exactly how it was stolen, or how it got to the United States, but it did end up for sale on the internet, was spotted by Rosokhrankultura experts, the U.S. Embassy Moscow was notified, and the Department of Homeland Security dispatched its agents and recovered the book, before it vanished into a private collection.
This is not the first story of such cooperation; nor will it be the last. This is a success story of cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of our two countries; a relationship based on mutual respect and trust.
The disagreements between Russia and America make the headlines – and we do have real differences. But at the same time, we are working together every day on the important business of our two countries; fighting organized crime, fighting cybercrime; battling against human trafficking; and, in this case, fighting against the trafficking of cultural property. This book return is a perfect example of a success in our quiet battle to protect our cultural treasures.
Background Information:
Ambassador John Beyrle has officially repatriated to the Russian Federation a book from the library of Emperor Alexander III in a ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on October 22, 2008.
The Catalog of the Art Gallery of the Emperor’s Hermitage published in 1889 in St. Petersburg contains detailed descriptions of the paintings from the Art Gallery of the Emperor’s Hermitage. Prior to the 1917 revolution, it was stored in the library of Alexander III at the Gatchina Palace near St. Petersburg. After the revolution, the book became a part of the collection of the Gatchina Palace Museum.
In the beginning of the World War II, only a few hundred books out of the thirty thousand books in the collection of the Gatchina Palace Museum were evacuated. By the end of 1941, nearly sixteen thousand rare books from the museum had been transported to Berlin. The rest of the books were shipped to Riga, Latvia and then to Germany. The whereabouts of more than fifteen thousand books is still unknown and the search for them continues.
In 2007, Rosokhrankultura experts were searching online auction sites and discovered a book bearing Gatchina Palace Museum inventory numbers. That book was offered for sale in the U.S. through a web site. Rosokhrankultura notified the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents recovered the book.
The ceremony was attended by Mr. Aleksandr Kibovskiy, the Head of Rosokhrankultura, Mr. Viktor Petrakov, the Head of the Department for the Preservation of Cultural Property of Rosokhrankultura and Mr. Igor Neverov, Director of the North America Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
