0286 Stolen and Returned: The Marble Statue of "Philippe" from Samos

Abstract

For almost a year, from November 1943 to October 1944, the Greek island of Samos was under German occupation. General Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller, who was responsible for Samos, ruthlessly exploited his position of power and attempted to secretly take the Philippe, a female statue of the so-called Geneleos Group, out of the country. Fortunately, this criminal action and the planned transport of the statue to Trier were prevented by the Kunstschutz of the Wehrmacht. Finally, in 1954, the Philippe was returned from the Athens National Museum to Samos, where it is now exhibited in the archaeological museum of Vathi. The adventure of the Philippe statue sheds light on the situation of the antiquities on Samos during the German occupation. Selected sources will also be used to show how the Kunstschutz officers proceeded in their rescue operations and how they themselves defined their role as part of the German Wehrmacht after the war.