Reax as panel rules disputed art should stay with museum and not go to heirs of Jewish art dealers

(20 Mar 2014) A medieval treasure trove at the centre of a long-running ownership dispute should stay with a Berlin museum, a panel set up by the German government said on Thursday.
The Welfenschatz, also known as Guelph Treasure, includes silver and gold crucifixes, altars, intricate silverwork and other relics.
Families of the descendent who once owned the collection, maintained that their ancestors were forced to sell the Christian artifacts to the Nazi government in 1935, for less than their value.
Some experts have estimated its current value at between 248 million and 276 million US dollars.
But the recommendation on the fate of the treasure by a decade-old commission created to help resolve restitution claims, said that the sale of the treasure was not a 'forced sale due to persecution'.
The president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage foundation, Herrmann Parzinger, welcomed the panel's conclusion and praised it for considering all the facts.
"We investigated it for about five years and found a lot of evidences that proves that the amount of money paid for the Welfenschatz was appropriate," he said.
Although the panel's recommendation isn't binding, it carries strong moral weight.
Representatives for the families weren't immediately available for comment, but can continue their fight to regain the collection if they don't accept Thursday's ruling.
"If the opposite side does not accept the decision we will fight for it. We are well prepared and relaxed," said Parzinger.
The collection, which has been on display in Berlin since the early 1960s and is currently at the city's Bode Museum, is considered the largest collection of German church treasure in public hands.

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