Three books return to France
There are books that tell a story and there are books that become history themselves. Including brown leather, then golden schnörke to decorate, three old books are in an old wooden cabinet. Kay Reinhardt, an artist from Rott am Lech, discovered the volumes – when he bought the old, enchanted house in 2024, in which the wooden cabinet is in the living room. When he opened the first book, he found clues: a family coat of arms with lions, bears and crowns on page one, plus the number 1707 as the year of print. The book is written in French and is entitled: « L’Ane d’Or ». It is the Roman fairy tale of the « golden donkey », a parody on Homers Odyssey. Reinhardt haunted the books through the head from this second, where do they come from? His research could have been the year -long Odyssey, if it would not be a note in the book: « Souvenir of France » is in German script. « Organized in Boran Sur Oise Castle in September 42nd »
« Organized »? France, 1942. At that time, the German Wehrmacht kept the country under its violence. Reinhardt remembers what he immediately thought: « Whoever has such a book will be back. » This started his research according to the history of the books. The trail leads him to the time of National Socialism, to the life of two French fighters in resistance, to Boran Sur Oise Castle – and back again. The three books have now returned to France, to the family that belonged to them. 80 years after the end of World War II.
Why did the soldier take the books with them?
Kay Reinhardt takes a seat at the window of his attic apartment: « I had two grandfathers who had to go to war myself. » One of the two even survived the Battle of Verdun in France, in the First World War. « After the war, he was a wreck inside. » When Reinhardt tells about it, a feeling quickly jumps on what he learned from these stories. Reinhardt grew up in Leipzig, studied history in the GDR, later he moved to southern Germany and found his life’s work as a draftsman, as a musician, but also museum director. Reinhardt, the history, the books and the peace, everything finds together in June 2024. At that time he buys a row house, very close to the historic Wessobrunn monastery. « With a complete inventory. »
Behind the door of the white house narrow corridors, steep stairs, a smell of centuries and – moisture. Reinhardt wants to renovate the house. At the end of the hall is the living room that Reinhardt has already set up: a round table, a sofa, a tiled stove in the angle and pictures on the wall. They are watercolors of family artists who once belonged to the house. It is the family of a soldier who was part of the company in September 1942, which occupied Boran Sur Oise Castle in France. He took the books. How come? To sell them later? To save them? Reinhardt concerns the question, even if he can no longer clarify it safely. Not in an interview with the descendants of the soldier who help with research but hold back. A family of painters, of people with a heart for culture – « and maybe that saved the books, » says Reinhardt. Where did his unconditional request come from to find the owners? « It was about taking a few grams of load. »
A rare case when it comes to restitution
Reinhardt researched, even without knowledge of French, translated text with the help of AI, searched for contact with Boran Sur Oise. « It dragged on forever. » He finally found help in his hometown Leipzig, at the German National Library, DNB for short.
The term « restitution » is in the headlines, mostly because it becomes politically explosive. But this case from Wessobrunn? « Such cases of private laws really do not occur often, » says Emily Löffler from DNB. In the National Library, she heads the Provenance Research Department. To research according to the origin of books is your profession. « For public institutions, the Washington principles of 1998 are considered a benchmark for the Nazi context, » explains Löffler. In this way, state institutions undertake to operate provenance research and find fair solutions for Nazi robbery. This explanation does not apply to the find in the attic in your own home. There is nothing in such cases that regulates the return.
One day the request from Kay Reinhardt landed in Löffler’s mailbox. In this case, she mainly helped as an intermediary: On the other, the French side, she informed the organization CIVs, « Commission for the compensation of the victims of expropriations ». So they made contact – and Kay Reinhardt soon met the de Moustier family for the first time during a video conversation. The descendants from the French castle.
The value of the books? Kay Reinhardt has made a smart research in the central directory of archival books – 1500 euros in total. But that is not the real value. Emily Löffler says: « In many cases, it is not necessarily just about the objects themselves, but about merging history. » And all ends in history will find together on May 7, 2025.
« Unique friendship gesture »: artists return stolen books
French consulate general in Munich. In the most beautiful room, they have lined up three flags today, the Bavarian, the Germans, the French, and from a photo on the wall, smiles Emmanuel Macron. The Consul General is happy about the return of the books, he speaks of a « unique friendship gesture ». Kay Reinhardt voice trembles a little bit of emotion when he speaks to the small, gathered round: « Everything that is returned makes us easier. » He says: « Peace comes from here » and knocks on the left chest twice. In the rows of seats, two people listen carefully: Philibert de Moustier and his sister Sonja de Panafieu. At that time, the Nazis robbed their family, her father and grandfather – and more. Philibert explains that his sister is the historian of the family. And the sister is prepared, her speech keeps her in German: « The fragile peace that prevails in the EU today consists of committed people, » she says, looking at Kay Reinhardt.
Sonja Panafieu explains: « I tried my whole life to understand the mechanisms of barbarism that do people. » She brought a folder with black and white photos to Munich, image finds from archives that she recently discovered. A dozen soldiers smiles into the camera. They pose in front of the castle in Wehrmacht uniform, in front of the stages, like the lawful home side. « My heart stopped at the sight, » recalls Panafieu. Her grandfather and her father had tried to defend themselves. They are true of the Résistance. They remained in the resistance until the Nazis took their possessions and dragged them into the concentration camp in Germany. The son survived just in the camp in Neuengamme near Hamburg, the father died.
You have recovered the books and maybe a new friend. Philibert de Moutier officially invites Kay Reinhardt to Boran Sur Oise, where the castle owner wants to organize a festival for him. The de Moutiers even wished Kay Reinhardt to sign in the books with his name. He did something else: a sheet is now in the book, with a drawing by Reinhardt. A donkey kisses a woman, a scene from the fairy tale. Inscription: « The golden donkey returns home to Boran Sur Oise ».
