Fake marbles and facing the truth!

A STONE IS HEAVY IN ITS PLACE-156. LET US NOT FORGET, LET US NOT LET BE FORGOTTEN!

World War II is the bloodiest war in human history.

The war, which began with fascist Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, ended with the armistice agreement signed on August 14, 1945. With Germany's surrender, the war officially came to an end.

During this period, 80 to 85 million people lost their lives.

Turkey also experienced great difficulties in this wartime environment. However, thanks to the decision of its prudent leaders, it did not join the war and saved thousands of its people from death.

Hitler, who started this war, used the Pergamon Altar and the Pergamon sculptures, which were smuggled from Bergama to Berlin in the 19th century, to demonstrate his own power. 

 (Hitler giving the Japanese Emperor a tour of the Pergamon Altar)

He exhibited these works in the Pergamon Museum, which was built on a swamp in the middle of Berlin in 1930 and is currently collapsing.

He even hosted the Emperor of Japan here.

Hitler's aggressive and inhumane policies not only turned Europe into a bloodbath but also razed many cities and historical sites. Berlin also suffered massive destruction.

One of the places most damaged by this destruction was the Pergamon Museum/Prison, which housed the Altar of Zeus and other artifacts from Pergamon that had been smuggled out in the late 19th century by Carl Humann and his gang with the support of the German state.

To protect them from the bombs raining down on Berlin, some of the artifacts were placed in crates and moved to the nearby Berlin Zoo. 

(The Altar of Zeus under the bombs in Berlin)

However, a corner of the Temple of Dionysus, the columns of the Temple of Athena, and the marble framework of the Market Gate of Miletus,  along with many other Anatolian artifacts like the main structure of the Pergamon Altar, were left under the bombs.

Who knows how much damage some of these artifacts sustained!

Whether out of embarrassment or because they would be forced to admit their crimes, no explanation was given regarding this destruction.

Yet, there was a clear cultural crime at hand!

Attempts were made to cover up the crime with statements like, "We took the artifacts to protect them, we are taking good care of them." However, all of this is, to use an expression that passed from Spanish into Turkish, nonsense!

***

(Photograph in the German State archives labeled "Pergamon Altar - Destroyed Zeus Altar - 1945")  

Berlin was liberated from the hands of the fascist Hitler by the Soviet Army in 1945.

The Soviets seized the Pergamon Museum, whose roof had collapsed and whose walls and doors were broken.

The Pergamon artifacts were placed in crates, loaded onto railcars, and transported to St. Petersburg (known as Leningrad at the time).

Who knows what happened to the artifacts during this journey and while they were there!

The Pergamon artifacts remained in St. Petersburg for exactly 11 years.

In 1956, they were sent back to Berlin following a political decision. However, at that time, the region where the museum was located was under the administration of East Germany, an ally of the Soviet Union.

(Cleaning the hall where the Pergamon Altar was located in Berlin after the war)

The artifacts were reinstalled in the restored museum. Reconstruction work was carried out.

However, while the Soviet Union returned the Pergamon artifacts to East Germany, it never considered returning them to Turkey!

Just as it did not return the Troy treasures stolen by the German thief Schliemann to Germany, it did not give them to Turkey either.

Even today, Russia insists on not returning the Troy artifacts and some pieces of the Pergamon Altar that are said to have remained in Russia.

In conclusion, Anatolia's historical treasures have been left to those who seize them through a lack of ethics and illegal smuggling.

***

When the East Germans repaired the Berlin Museum/Prison, that ruinous appearance and disgraceful state were, to some extent, eliminated.

Based on pre-war plans, the pieces of the Pergamon Altar were put back in place. However, there was a major problem!

German authorities had been taking photographs of the artifacts since the day they smuggled them out of Pergamon. This is why the pieces of the destroyed Pergamon Altar could be reassembled like a jigsaw puzzle.

But what happened to the pieces that were lost during the war? This was never explained!

While the Pergamon Altar was being reassembled, marble copies—produced from plaster, clay, or mud based on the available photographs—must have been made to replace the destroyed friezes and installed in their place!

(Restoration of the Pergamon Altar in Berlin after the pieces returned from Russia)

The most striking example of this is clearly visible in a photograph taken in Berlin in 1959.

Some of the magnificent friezes of Pergamon are being attempted to be completed with replicas—likely clay or plaster plates—instead of the original marble.

So, where are the originals?

They are gone!

Dozens of friezes and statues like these must be missing!

As if the damage inflicted upon the Pergamon artifacts and the historical heritage of humanity were not enough, the world is now being deceived by the exhibition of what may be fake works.

With today's advanced technologies and modern electronic devices, these fake artifacts could be identified one by one.

If the allegations of forgery are incorrect, this would then be proven as such!

Thus, the damage inflicted upon the Pergamon artifacts and how these works are treated in Germany can be brought to light.

This situation is not merely a crime against culture and art; it is a crime against humanity.

The heirs of those who committed this crime refer to themselves in their own official documents as  the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (Preußischer Kulturbesitz).

However, those responsible in today's Germany also do not hesitate to perpetuate this shameful situation!

The time has come to apologize to Pergamon and all of humanity.

THE ZEUS ALTAR AND THE PERGAMON ARTIFACTS DO NOT BELONG IN COLD AND FOGGY BERLIN, BUT TO BEAUTIFUL PERGAMON. THEY MUST ABSOLUTELY BE RETURNED; THEY MUST COME HOME!

(Source: https://www.berlinluftterror.com/blog/pergamon-berlin-2)

Sefa Taşkın

06.04.2025

Karşıyaka/İzmir