Timepiece vault3/17/2023 The building that houses the Stasi Museum was constructed in the early 1960s as the offices of Erich Mielke, the minister for state security who is credited with transforming the Stasi into an efficient and ruthless secret police organization. “We are a historical museum, and don’t expect anyone to break into our premises. The feeling of security is considerably disturbed,” Drieselmann tells the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, as quoted by Naomi Rea of artnet News. “It’s always painful when there’s a break-in. Nevertheless, the loss of the Stasi’s artifacts came as a shock. Speaking with BBC News, Drieselmann says the cost of the pilfered goods amounts to “a few thousand euros”-far less than the estimated value of the jewels stolen from the Green Vault, which have been described as “ priceless.” ( Local press estimate the trove’s value at around $1 billion, but the museum has declined to put a financial figure on the relics, instead deeming them “ impossible to sell” because they are so well-known.) But “in terms of the value of the stolen items,” he adds, “you can almost lean back and relax.” ![]() ![]() Jörg Drieselmann, the museum’s director, tells Oltermann that even reproductions might find buyers among collectors of East German memorabilia. Only one of these medals-a golden Patriotic Order of Merit-is an original the rest are facsimiles. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union some 30 years ago, many such confiscated items have been returned, but the Stasi still houses a collection of valuables that could not be traced back to their original owners.Īlso stolen were eight medals, including an Order of Karl Marx (the most important award given out in East Germany), an Order of Lenin and a Hero of the Soviet Union. The stolen jewels, according to the Guardian’s Philip Oltermann, are primarily items confiscated from people who tried to escape Soviet-controlled East Germany. ![]() Berlin police tell Claudia Otto and Sheena McKenzie of CNN that the perpetrators smashed several exhibition cases and stole multiple artifacts.Īmong the missing goods are a pair of earrings, a ring laden with pearls and gems, a gold watch, and a gold timepiece. Thieves scaled the roof of the museum-located on the grounds of the former headquarters of the Ministry for State Security, or Stasi-and broke through a first-floor window. The break-in took place the morning of Sunday, December 1. Now, yet another German cultural institution has been hit by burglars: This time, the target was Berlin’s Stasi Museum, an institution dedicated to exploring the frightening history of East Germany’s secret police. Last Monday, thieves targeted Dresden’s treasure-filled Green Vault in a brazen heist, making off with a haul of precious jewels.
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