‘OVER MY DEAD BODY’

Italy Refuses German Museum’s Request to Return Roman Statue Bought by Hitler

The Roman statue was bought by Hitler in 1938 and returned to Italy in 1948 among artwork illegally seized by the Nazis.

Italian officials have refused a request from the German State Antiquities Collection in Munich to return a Roman statue bought by Hitler in 1938. The Discobolus Palombara, a 2nd-century Roman copy of a Greek bronze work, was returned to Italy in 1948 as part of a collection of art illegally seized by the Nazis. In refusing the German museum’s request, Italy’s culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said on Saturday: “I made a joke—they’ll have to step over my dead body.” The dispute reportedly began when the Roman Museum requested the return of the statue’s 17th-century base, but the Munich org instead replied by asking for the return of the statue. “This work was obtained fraudulently by the Nazis, and it’s part of our national heritage,” Sangiuliano declared.