Hitler’s bronze horses found

Two bronze horse statues by artist Josef Thorak are transported on a flatbed trailer in Bad Duerkheim, southwest Germany.

Two bronze horse statues by artist Josef Thorak are transported on a flatbed trailer in Bad Duerkheim, southwest Germany.

Published May 22, 2015

Share

 

London - Two bronze horses which stood outside Adolf Hitler’s grandiose Reich Chancellery in Berlin have been recovered by police probing a black market art ring in Nazi treasures.

Other works lost since the collapse of Nazism were also seized in raids in five German states. One was a 16ft by 33ft granite relief by favoured Nazi sculptor Arno Breker.

Bombing destroyed the chancellery in 1945 and the horses, by Josef Thorak, were seized by the invading Soviets. In the 1950s they were discovered in East Germany but vanished again.

Now said to be worth £3-million, they were found in a warehouse in the town of Bad Duerkheim in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, apparently destined for a US collector.

The artworks remain the property of the Federal Republic of Germany. Charges of embezzling the state are expected to be laid against a number of suspects.

Daily Mail

Related Topics: