Wolfram Weimer: Minister of State for Culture announces agreement in dispute with Hohenzollern

Potsdam. The House of Hohenzollern and the public sector have settled a nearly 100-year-long property dispute over historically valuable works of art. Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer announced this in Berlin. This allows the pieces to remain in the collections of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, and the German Historical Museum. Visitors can therefore continue to view them in the public collections.

"This agreement is a tremendous success for Germany as a cultural center and for the art-loving public," Weimer explained. "For a hundred years, there has been ongoing uncertainty about objects that are central to the art and collection history of Prussia, and thus to German history as a whole." After trusting discussions, there has now been a breakthrough.

The key point is the transfer of all objects from the former Hohenzollern Museum to a joint non-profit "Hohenzollern Art Collection Foundation." This will finally bring legal peace, Weimer said.

At issue are thousands of works of art to which George Frederick, Prince of Prussia, had laid claim as a descendant of the Prussian kings. The House of Hohenzollern had been negotiating the ownership issue with the federal government and the states of Berlin and Brandenburg since 2014.

With the proclamation of the Weimar Republic and the abdication of the Emperor in 1918, the monarchy ended. The Hohenzollern assets were confiscated. In 1926, a property settlement was concluded between the then state of Prussia and the Hohenzollerns, determining who owned what. Nevertheless, legal uncertainty persisted, lasting for almost 100 years.

RND/dpa