Italy receives back ancient mosaic stolen during WWII

A two-millennia-old mosaic, which was stolen by a member of the Nazi armed forces, has been returned to Italy more than 80 years after the end of World War II.
The piece will now be displayed on the site of the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, which was buried in the year 79 AD during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the director of the museum site, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said.
“Every returned stolen artefact is like a wound that heals,” Zuchtriegel, a German national, said. The intricately crafted piece depicts a man and a woman. According to the museum, the mosaic most likely originates from the region around the volcano and may have once adorned the floor of a bedroom. It is believed to have been created in the first century BC or AD.
According to the Carabinieri Police Force for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the mosaic probably came into the “wrongful possession” of the Wehrmacht member during the German occupation.
The soldier gifted it to a German. His heirs approached the Italian state to return the mosaic. They said that the Wehrmacht member was an officer, the Carabinieri spokesman said.
Documents regarding the theft, the gifting, names, or similar have not yet been found, he said.
The mosaic was brought back to Italy in September 2023 through the Italian Consulate General in the south-western German city of Stuttgart.
After the armistice between Italy and the Allies in September 1943, the German Wehrmacht occupied large parts of the country. The approximately 20-month occupation period was marked by violence. At the same time, numerous art and cultural objects disappeared from public collections or archaeological sites. — dpa