The theft of medieval art from Quedlinburg was perpetrated by

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Lieutenant Joe T. Meador in the days prior to the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Precious church objects stored near Quedlinburg,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, were found by the U.S. Army. They were placed under guard, but eight extremely valuable objects went missing, including a 9th-century

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

gospel book, the ''Samuhel Evangeliar'' (''English'': Samuhel Gospel), and a printed evangeliary (book of gospel readings for services) dating to 1513 (the ''Evangelistar aus St. Wiperti''), both with jewelled book-covers, as well as

reliquaries A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including '' phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''fer ...

, an ivory

liturgical comb A liturgical comb is a decorated comb used ceremonially in both Catholic and Orthodox Christianity during the Middle Ages, and in Byzantine Rite to this day. The exact use of liturgical combs during the Middle Ages remains unclear. They may have ...

, a perfume-flask made out of rock crystal and other irreplaceable artifacts of historical importance. The most famous illuminated manuscript associated with the town, the 5th-century

Quedlinburg Itala fragment The Quedlinburg ''Itala'' fragment (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Cod. theol. lat. fol. 485) is a fragment of six folios from a large 5th-century illuminated manuscript of an Vetus Latina, Old Latin ''Itala'' translation o ...

, once in the church, had been moved to a museum in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and was not stolen. The missing artifacts started resurfacing in 1987. After various lawsuits against and negotiations with the heirs of the by-then deceased Meador, they were restored to their rightful owners. William Honan, an author and journalist working for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', published in 1997 an account of the theft and how he traced it to the Meador family.

Theft

Quedlinburg Abbey Quedlinburg Abbey (german: Stift Quedlinburg or ) was a house of secular canonesses ''( Frauenstift)'' in Quedlinburg in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was founded in 936 on the initiative of Saint Mathilda, the widow of the East Frankis ...

was founded as a proprietary church of the Ottonian Imperial family by Emperor Otto the Great in 936, as a memorial to his father. Over the following centuries, it accumulated a rich collection of treasures donated by the Imperial family. At the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, it was converted into the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

Church of

St. Servatius Saint Servatius ( nl, Sint Servaas; french: Saint Servais; li, Sintervaos; hy, Սուրբ Սերվատիոս ''Surb Servatios'') (born in Armenia, died in Maastricht, traditionally on 13 May 384) was bishop of Tongeren —Latin: ''Atuatuca ...

. During World War II, the treasure was moved for security to a mineshaft southwest of the town. On April 19, 1945, the cache was found by a unit of the advancing U.S. Army, the 87th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, and placed under guard. In June, church authorities complained that eight precious objects were missing. However, investigations proved futile and the matter was dropped in 1949 because, by then, Quedlinburg was part of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. First Lieutenant Meador was a member of the 87th. Before the war, in 1938, Meador had received a bachelor's degree from

North Texas State University The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

, majoring in art, so he would have had a better appreciation than most of the value of the find. Several of his fellow soldiers reported seeing him entering the mine and leaving with bundles. Letters he wrote to his family indicate he mailed at least several of the objects home to Whitewright, Texas.

Sale and lawsuits

Although Meador occasionally showed the art to his co-workers, he made no attempt to sell it. Upon his death from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on February 1, 1980, his will made no mention of the artwork. Jane Meador Cook and Jack Meador, Joe's sister and brother, sold the Samuhel Gospel to the Cultural Foundation of the States, an organization based in Berlin and dedicated to repatriating lost German art, for $3 million. The transaction was finalized on May 9, 1990. However, news of the sale resulted in a civil lawsuit brought in U.S. District Court on behalf of the Quedlinburg church on June 18, 1990. Negotiations led to an agreement that the Meador family would be paid either $2.75 million (less the 1990 payments) or $1 million for the return of all the artifacts. The U.S. government chose to press charges. On January 4, 1996, Jack Meador, Jane Cook, and their lawyer, John Torigian, were indicted for "conspiring to receive, possess, conceal, store, barter, sell and dispose of stolen goods and for receiving, possessing, concealing, storing, bartering, selling and disposing of stolen goods."

William H. Honan William Holmes Honan (May 11, 1930 – April 28, 2014) was an American journalist and author who directed coverage of the arts at ''The New York Times'' as its culture editor in the 1980s. Honan held senior editorial positions at the ''New York Tim ...

(October 30, 2003)
"Jack and Jane Meador, Figures in Stolen Wartime Art Case"
''New York Times''. Retrieved 2008-09-07. However, on October 22, 1996, the charges were dismissed by the District Court because they had been brought too late under the statute of limitations. Afterward, the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

investigated and sought over $50 million in taxes, penalties, and interest. On April 20, 2000, the IRS and the Meador family settled for $135,000.

References

External links

Treasures of Quedlinburg Cathedral
{{Authority control Quedlinburg Quedlinburg Art and cultural repatriation after World War II War crimes by the United States during World War II 1945 crimes in Germany Individual thefts Church treasuries de:Domschatzkammer Quedlinburg#Die Odyssee des Domschatzes