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Berlin: Historians must refrain from making statements about Hohenzollern

2021-02-18T14:34:19.819Z


The historian Winfried Suss suffered a defeat in court: He cannot claim that the Hohenzollern people demanded a say in the historical representation of their family in public institutions.


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Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia

Photo: Thomas Frey / imago images

The Berlin district court has forbidden the Potsdam historian Winfried Suss to claim that the Hohenzollern had asked for a say in the historical representation of the family in the dispute over compensation claims for expropriated works of art.

The court confirmed a corresponding injunction against the scientist, which the head of the family Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia had obtained against him.

“This is not a good day for freedom of science and not a good day for freedom of expression,” Suss told SPIEGEL after the decision.

"If this legal opinion prevails, it will be difficult for scientists in the future to speak about their work without legal assistance." He is now hoping that the decision will be corrected in the second instance.

He is confident that the Berlin Superior Court will "assess the facts differently."

The background to the legal dispute is the settlement negotiations that have been ongoing since 2014 between the states of Berlin, Brandenburg and the federal government on the one hand and the Hohenzollern company on the other.

Its boss, Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia, claims thousands of sculptures, paintings, furniture and books that once belonged to the family and are now owned by public museums, galleries and castles.

The total value of the claims is probably in the three-digit million range.

The subject of the negotiations was also a Hohenzollern Museum in Berlin, in which some of the controversial treasures could have been shown, as well as the rights of the former imperial family as lenders.

In 2019, Prince of Prussia demanded in a negotiating paper for permanent loans an "appropriate institutionalized participation", such as a "right to speak" in corresponding meetings.

When SPIEGEL and the »Tagesspiegel« unveiled the claims of the former imperial family in the summer of 2019, public outrage was great.

Historian Suss also stated in an interview that he considered many of the Hohenzollern's demands to be “highly problematic” and cited as an example that they would have asked for “a say in the historical representations” of their family if “these representations were made by public institutions «.

Prince of Prussia denies that he is striving to interpret the history of his ancestors.

According to his website, he only demands a say in the matter of the items on loan that he has made available, which is standard practice with regard to lenders.

Prince of Prussia called the Berlin Regional Court, which issued an injunction against which Suss then lodged an objection, which has now been decided.

The Hohenzollern make an effort to publicly boil down the argument.

"For my part, regardless of the outcome of today's proceedings, I will not take any further steps in the matter," said Prince of Prussia on the outcome of today's negotiations.

He is concerned with the correct presentation of facts, »that has happened;

already in the first procedure «.

Therefore, he wanted to let the process rest.

He expressly appreciates the scientific work of Winfried Süß and his colleagues from the Potsdam Leibniz Center for Contemporary History, said Prince of Prussia.

However, it is not the first time that the regional court has had to deal with the issue.

The Berlin State Secretary for Culture Torsten Wöhlert (left), whose authority is taking part in the negotiations with the Hohenzollern, declared in the House of Representatives last year that Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia had an »institutionally anchored right to have a say in the presentation of the history of the Hohenzollern House institutions involved in the settlement talks called for «.

When the "Frankfurter Allgemeine" ("FAZ") printed this quote, the Hohenzollern boss took action against it.

The district court provisionally agreed with him - and thus accused Wöhlert of telling the untruth in front of parliament, which he still denies today.

The »FAZ« has appealed against the decision.

File number: 27 O 662/19

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klw / apr

Source: spiegel

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