The Polish Foreign Ministry has launched an inquiry into the history of a book presented to Pope Francis by Emmanuel Macron. The French President handed the book over to the Pope during an audience in the Vatican. Today, however, Poland’s culture minister said the book was not looted during the Second World War.
“The foreign ministry is investigating the circumstance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s gift to Pope Francis… but will issue no comment on the matter for the time being,” Lukasz Jasina, a foreign ministry spokesman, told PAP on Tuesday.
The book, the first French edition of Immanuel Kant’s 1795 work “Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch” carries the stamp of an academic library in the Ukrainian city of Lviv.
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Macron to be blamed for giving Pope book looted from Poland during WWII
Moments later, Poland’s culture minister said that a book presented by Macron to Pope was not looted from Poland during the Second World War, the Polish Press Agency informed.
Poland’s culture minister has said that a book presented by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, to Pope Francis was not looted from Poland during the Second World War.
— Polish Press Agency (@PAP_eng) October 26, 2022
Before World War II Lviv — or Lwow in Polish — was a major city in eastern Poland, so the stamp has raised suspicions that it could have been looted by the Nazis during their occupation of the region during the war.