Was the Pergamon Altar of Zeus sold to the Germans?

STONE IS HEAVY IN ITS PLACE-136. LET US NOT FORGET, LET US NOT LET BE FORGOTTEN. 

At the end of the 19th century, a group of Germans, ranging from engineers to archaeologists, consuls to princes, organized and took the historical artifacts of Anatolia, of Pergamon, to Germany.

This removal was not legitimate; it was dubious and an act of smuggling.

In this context, German officials and their supporters, knowing that it was immoral to seize the historical values of another country with or without permission and take them abroad, found an excuse for this.

They lulled the world and Turkish public opinion for years by claiming that the Ottoman Empire, the owner of these lands at the time, had "sold" the Pergamon Altar of Zeus and its artifacts to the Germans.

The documented thefts, heavy pressures, and permissions obtained through trickery and deceit were ignored.

With a great lie, Ottoman state administrators were blamed, and intellectuals in Turkey and the world were deceived.

However, what happened in Pergamon between 1864 and 1878 is an unprecedented act of cultural plunder.

In those years, the Prussian/German state-backed engineer Carl Humann and his gang secretly took Pergamon's historical artifacts to Berlin, despite it being strictly forbidden by the existing 1869 Ottoman Regulation/Law.

This documented situation is a clear case of smuggling and theft, no matter where in the world it occurs. 

Aware of this unjust and lawless environment, officials of the Prussian/German state sought their own remedies for the situation. 

During that process, German officials were influential at every level of the Ottoman Empire.

They ensured that a German named Philip Anton Dethier was appointed as the Director of the Ottoman State Museum, the Müze-i Hümayun. 

In 1874, in order to legalize their previous smuggling and pave the way for new ones, they enacted a new law prepared by this P.A. Dethier, which they believed served German interests.

Under this law, 1/3 of the artifacts unearthed from excavations would be given to the Germans conducting the excavation, 1/3 to the landowner (i.e., the Ottomans), and 1/3 directly to the Ottoman State.

The division was to be carried out by another German, Heinze from Göttingen, the manager of the İzmir branch of the Ottoman Bank.

However, Ottoman officials who knew the absurdity of this law did not implement this forced legislation. They did not grant permission for the Pergamon artifacts to be taken abroad.

Until August 6, 1878. 

In the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War (the 93 War), the Ottomans were defeated, and the Russian Army, descending from the Balkans, had entered as far as Ayastefanos/Yeşilköy and reached the gates of the capital, Istanbul.

With the capital on the verge of falling into Russian hands and the state on the brink of collapse, the Ottomans were desperate.

While the Ottoman Empire was losing its territories in Romania and Bulgaria, as well as Cyprus, through the Treaty of Berlin—where the supposedly allied Germans were acting as mediators—the German state saw this as an opportunity.

Pressuring the cornered Ottoman Empire, they obtained permission from the Ottomans to enforce the 1/3 law they had enacted in 1874, which had not been implemented, through P.A. Dethier, their own man whom they had placed in charge of the Ottoman Museums Directorate.

However, there was a problem for the Germans! 

Those beautiful Pergamon statues could not be divided into three! 

The magnificent friezes of the Altar of Zeus, depicting the "War of the Giants," the "Gigantomachy," could not be separated from each other!

For this, Prussian/German Crown Prince Frederick III, who had been part of the smuggling network for some time, stepped in. 

Frederick, who would later become King of Germany for a time, was married to an English lady with a passion for historical artifacts and had set his sights on the Pergamon artifacts to find roots for the baseless German imperialist culture.

They had already obtained permission to take 1/3 of the artifacts, but now they were after the remaining 2/3.

Under the leadership of Prince Frederick, a powerful member of the smuggling network that robbed Pergamon, pressure was once again applied to the Ottomans.

First on October 5, 1878, then on May 16, 1879, and subsequently on July 13, 1879, through letters written personally by Crown Prince Frederick III, he demanded the remaining 2/3 of the artifacts that they had not been able to take from the Ottomans.

The German state of that time was also backing this smuggling with all its might!

The Ottoman Empire rejected the three persistent requests made by the political arm of the network, Crown Prince Frederick III, in writing.

It seems there were patriotic Ottoman state officials who resisted despite all this pressure!

And this was despite the fact that German imperialism had infiltrated every part of the Ottoman Empire.

These documents clearly show the pressure exerted by the highest-level state officials of Prussia/Germany on the Ottoman Empire.

However, there was a powerful German state perched on top of the Ottoman Empire.

The German robbers knew how valuable the Pergamon artifacts were. 

And they wanted to take them away as soon as possible.

The Ottomans resisted for another year to avoid giving up these artifacts.

Who knows what happened during this process? 

Who knows what other pressures were applied to the exhausted Ottoman Empire!

Some local officials were convinced in one way or another!  

With a decision taken on August 20, 1879, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II agreed to give all the artifacts unearthed from the excavations conducted between September 9, 1878, and April 16, 1880, to the Germans in exchange for a compensation/donation of 20 thousand francs, a laughable amount even for that time.

Thus, German imperialism had achieved its goal.

A large part of the Pergamon artifacts had first been smuggled/stolen, then 1/3 was taken through a dubious law, and finally, the remaining 2/3 were seized by the hands of the highest-level representatives of the German state.

Of course, there were also internal focal points that helped them during this process.

What else can this seizure be called but theft and dubiousness?

Is the lawlessness and immorality not rampant?

These developments were always hidden from the world and Turkish public opinion.

Now, the eyes of the Anatolian people have been opened!

They are protecting their historical artifacts!

They are seeking their rights!

THE ALTAR OF ZEUS AND THE PERGAMON STATUES DO NOT BELONG TO COLD AND FOGGY BERLIN, BUT TO BEAUTIFUL PERGAMON. THEY MUST DEFINITELY COME BACK, THEY MUST RETURN HOME!

(Source: Ali Sönmez: Yitik Miras Zeus Sunağı [Lost Heritage: Altar of Zeus]. İdeal Yayıncılık-Istanbul-2020/ Yaşar Yılmaz: Anadolu’nun Gözyaşları [Tears of Anatolia]-Anadolu-Kültürel Girişimcilik Yayınları-2021)