Germany returns to France fragments of the Bayeux Tapestry taken in 1941

"The two unembroidered fragments of linen, one to two centimetres long, were discovered by chance in 2023 in the personal archives of Karl Schlabow, a specialist in ancient textiles and German museum director, who died in 1984. In the summer of 1941, Schlabow had been commissioned by the Occupying Nazi regime in France to conduct an in-depth study of the materials of the Bayeux Tapestry, apparently as part of a study into the "ancestral heritage of the Aryan race". The study was never published."

""It was during the inventory of this collection in 2023 that a glass plate containing pieces of fabric was discovered," the director of the Schleswig-Holstein museum explained, "along with other documents. Thanks to the labelling of the plate, it was possible to identify these fragments" as coming from the Bayeux Tapestry. "It was obvious that these pieces of fabric taken by the Nazis 85 years ago had to be returned to France.""

"They are now back at the museum in Bayeux, Normandy, which is the usual home of the embroidery - at present it is not on display, it has been sent to storage during a renovation of the museum and is due to be transported to England for display in the British Museum later in the year. The 70m Bayeux Tapestry is an 11th-century embroidered narrative on linen canvas, which tells the story of the conquest of England in 1066 by William, Duke of Normandy"

Two small, unembroidered linen fragments taken from the Bayeux Tapestry during the 1941 Occupation were found in Karl Schlabow's personal archives in 2023 and identified via labelled material. Schlabow had been commissioned in 1941 by the Occupying Nazi regime to study the tapestry's materials as part of an investigation into the "ancestral heritage of the Aryan race"; that study was never published. The fragments were handed over by the German region of Schleswig-Holstein and returned to the Bayeux museum. The tapestry itself is currently in storage during museum renovation and is due for display in the British Museum later in the year.

Read at The Local France