Investigators have summarized the first phase of the case concerning the theft of 78 ancient prints from the Warsaw University Library. The value of the stolen volumes was estimated at PLN 3,825,000. Three members of an international criminal group have been charged with stealing ancient prints.
Three members of an international criminal group have been charged with stealing ancient prints from the Warsaw University Library.
The robbery was committed by an international criminal group made up of citizens of countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union.
So far, 5 people have been detained outside Poland as part of the investigation conducted by the international investigation team “Pushkin”. The arrests were made, among others, in Georgia, where two citizens of that country were detained.
As an RMF FM journalist found out, a significant number of historical books were found among the detained Georgians. Polish investigators already have a list of them.
Currently, verification is underway to determine whether old prints stolen from the University of Warsaw have been found. We are awaiting photographic documentation of these volumes.
The group stole historical books in Russian from libraries in many countries. Outside Poland – in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, Germany, Finland and Austria.
In Warsaw, the loot included first editions of works Pushkin, Krylov, Gogol and Lermontov.
The value of the stolen volumes was estimated at PLN 3,825,000.
The Polish Prosecutor’s Office is collecting the necessary evidence to prove the guilt of the perpetrators of the theft of antique prints in Poland, and the ongoing preparatory procedures are aimed at determining what happened to the antique prints stolen in our country, in order to take measures aimed at the restitution of these cultural assets.
The investigation into the theft of volumes from the Warsaw University Library was initiated on November 2, 2023. The Public Prosecutor’s Office then reported that the theft of books took place on October 16, 2023 in the BUW reading room at ul. Dobra 6 in Warsaw.
A woman and a man borrowed the books and did not return them in full. Only two of the ten ordered and their fascicles (parts of the work in the form of cards) remain – then delivered by prosecutor Szymon Banna.
Rector of the University of Warsaw Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak, in a statement released a day after the investigation began, said that the theft of valuable items from the resources of the Warsaw University Library probably lasted from December 2022 to October 16, 2023, although it could have started even earlier. The BUW confirmed the presence of a person suspected of theft in Latvian libraries.
