Thanks for Help in Recovering Lost Exhibits

The Marshal of West-Pomeranian Voivodeship Mr. Olgierd Geblewicz with the Director of the National Museum in Szczecin Mr. Lech Karwowski had a meeting with Mr. Tomasz Kogut from Gościno to thank him for his contribution to determining the fate of exhibits evacuated to Mołtowo during World War II. 

The meeting took place in former Braunschweig Palace in Mołtowo, presently the seat of Mołt-Eko Company, whose owners we would like to thank for their hospitality.  

Thanks to Tadeusz Kogut's help, the Museum collection was enriched with archaeological relics from treasures, deposits and graves unearthed in Pomerania. It was also possible to trace the fates of those Pomeranian exhibits collected in Szczecin since the 19th century that in years 1942-1944 were ddposited in Mołtowo. 

 

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The fates of exhibits evacuated during World War II from the Pomeranian National Museum (Pommersches Landesmuseum) in Szczecin have been very poorly discovered so far. We know that the most valuable relics were sheltered in 25 places located in various regions of the then Pomeranian Province. They were deposited mainly in manors and palaces - estates of eminent noble families. Most of them are situated in the West-Pomeranian Voivodeship, and only four in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. A significant part of the objects from the dislocation points that are located within the current borders of Germany has survived and was the subject of Polish-German exchange carried out in 2008-2009. In turn, the information on what happened at the end of the war and in the post-war period with the museum belongings deposited in places located in West Pomerania is scarce and not very clear.

In fact, as late as in early 21st century it was possible to find that at least some of the evacuated artifacts could remain in place, survive and that there is a chance of finding them. This was confirmed by the discoveries made in 2016 in Mołtowo, which were widely reported in the regional and national media, and soon became the subject of a scientific study (http://bityl.pl/L86d7 – „Zaginione – Ocalone”. Odkrycie zabytków archeologicznych ze szczecińskiej kolekcji starożytności pomorskich w Mołtowie) and a temporary exhibition presented at the National Museum in Szczecin and the Museum of Polish Arms in Kołobrzeg. The almost detective work carried out in parallel with the field search made it possible to partially recreate the fates of the exhibits hidden in Mołtowo. It was determined that after the end of the war the collection was kept in the palace. Some items were taken to the then Museum of the Płock Scientific Society in the years 1947–1948. Some of the archaeological relics were, under unknown circumstances, thrown into the emergency dump near the village along with rubble and other waste, and others were lost without a trace.

Last year, Mr. Tadeusz Kogut donated several further relics from treasures and a marsh deposit from various periods of the Bronze Age and from the tomb furnishings from the Roman period, but no less important are the personal memories he shared with the staff of the National Museum in Szczecin. They concerned the circumstances in which these items found their way to his family home. In the early seventies of the twentieth century, his father, employed at the State Farm in Mołtowo, was sent to clean up some of the buildings of the former manor. Among the rubble and rubbish, he found some relic items. He did not throw away some of them, but took them home as mementos. The story of their origin helped to supplement the knowledge about the lost Szczecin collection. Despite enormous losses, including unique exhibits from Pomerania dislocated during World War II to Mołtowo (including a portfolio with sketches by Philip Otto Runge, or part of one of the most valuable exhibits in West Pomerania: the book of images of Duke Philip II), this place is one of the few examples of a fuller reconstruction of the fate of monuments evacuated from Szczecin to about twenty different towns currently located in the West-Pomeranian Voivodeship.

 

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Exhibits given to the National Museum in Szczecin (photo by Karolina Gołębiowska)

1, 2– decorative bracelet and bronze axe from the treasure discovered in Wierzbięcin
3, 4 – coiled bracelets of bronze from the treasure discovered in Blankenburg
5, 6 – spearhead and necklaces of bronze from the deposit discovered in Będargowo
7 – viper-shaped bracelet of bronze from the cemetery in Lubowidz
8 – bronze dagger discovered in Battin