Paris:
A rare book donated to Pope Francis by French President Emmanuel Macron was never looted by the Nazis, the seller and authorities in Warsaw said on Wednesday, after Polish media speculated it might have been stolen during World War II.
Macron gave the pope the first edition 1796 French translation of German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s “Towards Perpetual Peace” on Monday during a visit to Rome.
The title page features a stamp from a university library in the former Polish city of Lviv, now in Ukraine, sparking online speculation — reported by several Polish broadcasters and newspapers — that it might have been stolen by German invaders during World War II.
Parisian dealer Patrick Hatchuel, who sold the book to the Elysee Palace for just under 2,500 euros, said it also had a label from one of its predecessors, Lucien Bodin, who was active in the city between 1880-1910.
“There is no doubt that this book was already in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. There can be no looting,” Hatchuel told Reuters, adding that he had bought it from the son of a private collector who bought it in had owned. for half a century.
Polish Culture Minister Piotr Glinski agreed.
The book “is not a Polish war loss. Contrary to the claims of some media … Everything indicates (it) … was in France at the beginning of the 20th century,” he said in a tweet accompanied by a photo of the book.
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