Who protects our cultural property throughout conflict? | EUROtoday

On October 10, 2022, a Russian rocket struck proper subsequent to the Khanenko Museum in downtown Kiev. The blast wave shattered the window panes and destroyed elements of the roof and facade. Ukraine’s most necessary artwork museum is only one of 37 museums within the nation that have been both broken, utterly devastated or systematically looted. This conflict is directed not solely in opposition to the nation and its individuals, but in addition in opposition to its tradition, which is meant to be strategically erased as a way to demoralize the individuals and deprive them of their nationwide identification and historical past. According to a UNESCO report from November 2025, 512 key cultural establishments in Ukraine have been confirmed to have been bombed by Russian assaults, together with spiritual buildings, theaters, opera homes, libraries, archives and museums.

In June 2024, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned urgently within the Bundestag of a potential enlargement of the conflict into NATO territory. In view of the worsening safety coverage scenario, Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared in September 2025: “We are not at war, but we are no longer at peace either.” A month later, Martin Jäger, the president of the Federal Intelligence Service, mentioned that Russia may probably assault NATO earlier than 2029.

How severely the state assesses the scenario was proven on November 17, 2025 within the Sprengel Museum Hanover, the place a personal assembly of the German Museum Association for artwork and cultural historical past museums passed off. For the primary time, a lieutenant colonel from the Bundeswehr took half in such an occasion in uniform and described to these current what an armed battle would imply for the museums. His lecture is being stored underneath wraps by the navy, however in line with reviews from individuals, he clearly referred to as on the establishments that protect cultural property to develop emergency plans independently.

There is a basic psychological drawback with such precautionary measures, aptly named by the American historian and psychoanalyst Jonathan Lear in 2006: the “inability to imagine its own destruction tends to be the blind spot of every culture.” Even in Germany, only a few individuals can think about a navy battle on their very own territory. Russia’s conflict of aggression in opposition to Ukraine is going down in Europe, nevertheless it feels distant. But if museums at the moment are requested by the navy to take a potential emergency under consideration and to make sure that catastrophic losses of cultural property don’t happen within the occasion of an armed battle, the query arises as as to if the museums are adequately ready for such a scenario.

If you attempt to decide whose space of ​​accountability and authority lies for the safety of cultural property, it turns into difficult and complicated. Even if the safety of the inhabitants, the infrastructure and the nationwide territory has precedence, the Bundeswehr, in line with its personal assertion, sees itself as having an obligation to typically defend cultural property each within the “exercise of military activities” and within the context of “civil-military cooperation”. Even after an inquiry to the Ministry of Defense, it stays unclear what this truly means.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior and its subordinate Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief are primarily chargeable for the safety of cultural property. According to its personal data, the Federal Office takes over the final planning of transports when objects from museums should be dropped at security, however emphasizes that the precise group and implementation of concrete measures on web site have to be taken over by the federal states and the museums.

However, some states resembling Lower Saxony, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony haven’t but supplied museums with evacuation rooms that can be utilized to save lots of probably the most helpful objects. When requested, the Saxon Ministry of Culture overtly admitted that there have been “currently no comprehensive emergency concepts and evacuation plans in the event of war.” These nations are due to this fact extremely inadequately ready for a potential armed battle. Almost all museums have precedence lists of works which might be significantly worthy of safety and preservation in relation to time-limited and localized threats resembling hearth, floods and excessive climate occasions. But issues aren’t wanting good in some instances in relation to additional threat and disaster administration. A random survey by the FAZ of a dozen German museums confirmed that just some establishments in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Schwerin, for instance, have preventive emergency plans within the occasion of conflict, and they’re additionally entitled to shelters or bunkers. Other museums that shouldn’t have this have no idea how you can save their collections, even when the accountable ministries, resembling in Saxony, are at present engaged on the issue. Switzerland has round 320 underground cultural heritage safety rooms, one thing Germany can solely dream of.

Various establishments such because the German Museum Association, the German Society for Cultural Protection, the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, the Emergency Alliance of the Cultural Foundation of the States, the Security Guide for Cultural Property and the German National Committee Blue Shield have every drawn up their very own suggestions on how museums can try to make sure the security of cultural property even within the occasion of conflict. These plans embody elements resembling orientation maps with constructing ground plans for the hearth division, containers with tools for the primary support of broken cultural property, containers for the elimination of the objects, another energy provide, coaching and workout routines for museum workers and the necessity for secure shelters. The important accountability lies with the cultural establishments themselves. They are typically overwhelmed when tasks are unclear, evacuation rooms will not be accessible and personnel and monetary sources are restricted.

The German Archaeological Institute, the Federal Agency for Technical Relief and the Leibniz Center for Archeology have simply introduced that the “Cultural Heritage Response Unit” they’ve fashioned is now accessible to offer emergency look after threatened or broken cultural property. That’s all properly and good, nevertheless it solely applies to assist that’s requested from overseas. However, museums and nations are slowly realizing that systematic threat and disaster administration can also be mandatory in Germany. We needs to be conscious that the plea for efficient and accountable emergency preparedness within the face of a potential armed battle is just not scaremongering. Because the safety of cultural property as a forward-looking preservation of cultural heritage is extra pressing than ever.