Quote:
Originally Posted by sammyg2
A time of war does not justify being a thief.
I'd tell him to give the stuff back to the German government. it doesn't belong to him and never did. If you'd like I can research the German consulate's phone number  |
anything you find in a bunker when busy winning from whoever built that bunker is definately spoils of war, hence the term "spoils of war"
the current German government, has no legal claims towards stuff owned by the german government at that time, if it did, any german WW2 artifact, anywhere on this planet, could in fact be considered stolen, any bullet, watch, mauser, tank and so on...
furthermore, if this award was given to this lieutenant, then it would be stolen from a person, not from the German government, but as it stands , this guy is probably long gone even if he wasn't killed right there in Berlin in 45
you could claim that his family has legal rights
but you would be wrong again, as theft from private person still has a statutory limitation of years, not decades, that is , IF you want to call it theft, not spoils of war
it's not a war crime such as genocide, and systematic theft of art and possessions from those you "genocided"
which is something that does not have a statutory limitation like simple theft has