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Unknown people steal Goethe statue: Police are looking for witnesses in Hamburg!
Two bronze statues were stolen in Hamburg during Christmas, including one of Goethe. Police are investigating.
Unknown people steal Goethe statue: Police are looking for witnesses in Hamburg!
On Christmas Day, the theft of a bronze statue of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe at the Goethe-Gymnasium in Hamburg-Lurup caused a stir. The school administration noticed the artwork was missing and alerted the police. According to a police spokesman, the statue could have been stolen a few days earlier, between Christmas Eve and December 25th. In front of the high school, only the feet of the statue remain on the pedestal, which further underlines the brazen act of theft. This is not the first incident of this kind in Hamburg. NDR reports that a bronze statue by the sculptor Gustav Seitz was stolen from the Albrecht-Thaer-Gymnasium in Stellingen.
The police have already started investigations into both cases and are checking whether there is a connection between the thefts. These actions follow a noticeable increase in art crime in the region, which has made investigators sit up and take notice. So reported Mopo, that in the past such thefts were often associated with copper thefts, in which gangs looted construction sites and empty houses. But now attention seems to be turning to bronze sculptures.
The background to the theft
The value of bronze is between 5.80 and 8.45 euros per kilogram, depending on the alloy, which represents a tempting target for the perpetrators. However, in recent years, many stolen works of art have not resurfaced on the legal market. They are often not for sale because they are clearly identifiable. This underlines the complexity and dangers of conducting such illegal transactions, which are internationally networked and often take place across borders.
Similar patterns can also be observed in other significant art thefts. In France, for example, a valuable collection of jewels was stolen from the Louvre. Only Empress Eugénie's crown was recovered, while the other items have remained missing to this day. South German newspaper highlights that such art crimes are often linked to greed and targeted commissioning, which makes solving such crimes even more difficult.
The police in Hamburg are asking the public for information about the recent thefts. Solving these cases could not only support the resale of the stolen bronze works, but also the repatriation of valuable art and represent an important step in the fight against art crime.