This article is about a 3,200
year-old Assyrian gold tablet that is being returned to a Berlin museum after
it was stolen in 1945. The tablet was found by German archaeologists in Iraq
before World War I and was in the possession of the museum during World War II.
A Soviet soldier stole the artifact from
the museum but traded the tablet to an Auschwitz survivor for a pack of cigarettes.
The survivor, Riven Flamenbaum, then came to the U.S. and raised a
family. His family now wants to donate the
item to a museum either in Manhattan or Israel as a testament to the story of
their parent’s survival. However, a U.S.
court ruled that it cannot be qualified as “a spoil of war” because it
is a cultural item and it must be returned to the Berlin museum.
I believe that while the family may
have an argument for why they should keep the item, if it is not considered “a
spoil of war” and instead a cultural artifact then it should be returned to an
Iraqi museum not the Berlin museum because they have no claim on the item as a
cultural artifact. The tablet was taken by archaeologists before the war and
therefore should be returned to its rightful country. What do you think?
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