WWII Artifact Threatened With Destruction
- Thread starter GURPS
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Uruguay Ordered to Sell Bronze Eagle Recovered from Sunken Kriegsmarine Warship
After a years-long legal battle surrounding its sale, the Uruguayan Court of Appeals has ordered that an 880-pound bronze eagle from the stern of the German warship Admiral Graf Spee can be sold. The process had been put on hold following fears it could be purchased by those with sympathies to the Third Reich.
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The bronze eagle was scheduled to be sold at auction in 2020 for up to $26 million, with Alfredo Etchegaray saying at the time that numerous parties had expressed interest. However, complaints soon arose over the exhibition of “Nazi paraphernalia,” with fears arising that it would be purchased by white supremacists or Third Reich sympathizers. As such, the sale didn’t proceed, and the adornment’s future was left in limbo.
In December 2021, the Uruguayan Court of Appeals ordered the country’s government to sell the eagle. Daniel Sielecky, a 64-year-old boating aficionado from Punta del Este, Argentina, has expressed interest in purchasing it. Speaking with local news outlet Correo de Punta del Este, he said he planned to “immediately blow it into a thousand pieces,” with any remaining pieces being “pulverized. There will be nothing left.”
After a years-long legal battle surrounding its sale, the Uruguayan Court of Appeals has ordered that an 880-pound bronze eagle from the stern of the German warship Admiral Graf Spee can be sold. The process had been put on hold following fears it could be purchased by those with sympathies to the Third Reich.
[clip]
The bronze eagle was scheduled to be sold at auction in 2020 for up to $26 million, with Alfredo Etchegaray saying at the time that numerous parties had expressed interest. However, complaints soon arose over the exhibition of “Nazi paraphernalia,” with fears arising that it would be purchased by white supremacists or Third Reich sympathizers. As such, the sale didn’t proceed, and the adornment’s future was left in limbo.
In December 2021, the Uruguayan Court of Appeals ordered the country’s government to sell the eagle. Daniel Sielecky, a 64-year-old boating aficionado from Punta del Este, Argentina, has expressed interest in purchasing it. Speaking with local news outlet Correo de Punta del Este, he said he planned to “immediately blow it into a thousand pieces,” with any remaining pieces being “pulverized. There will be nothing left.”
