17th C Polish Document Plundered by Swedes to be Returned?

[henryk]

https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7791/Ar ... lish-relic

Swedish MP lobbies for return of plundered Polish relic
Polish Radio 14.07.2022 11:30

Swedish lawmaker Björn Söder has addressed a motion to the country’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde in which he claimed that a Polish national relic held by Sweden since the 17th century should be returned to Poland. The relic in question is the Łaski Statutes, the first codification of law published in the Kingdom of Poland. Dating from 1506, it is one of the oldest preserved Polish legal acts. In 2016, it was added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World list.

Of the two extant copies of the Łaski Statutes, one is kept in the collections of the Central Archive of Historical Records in Warsaw. The other was among the many works of art and relics plundered during the Swedish invasion and occupation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the mid-17th century, known as the Deluge.

In his letter to the Swedish foreign minister, Söder, a member of the Sweden Democrats parliamentary group, acknowledged that his country followed a restrictive policy on the question of returning looted cultural and historical treasures to former owners. He asked, however, “whether in view of Poland’s concern for the security of Sweden and a speedy ratification by the Polish parliament of Sweden’s bid to join NATO, the foreign ministry should not consider a goodwill gesture and come up with an initiative to return the Łaski Statutes?”

Polish lawmakers last Thursday voted overwhelmingly to approve the enlargement of NATO to include Finland and Sweden in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
(mk/gs)

[wm]

It wasn't really looted or plundered, at that time it was just (legitimate) part of the spoils of war.
But the Swedes had agreed to return all books and documents in the peace treaty of Oliva and didn't keep their word - at all.

[henryk]

Curious. Only mentioned in Polish language Wiki, not English or Swedish.
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%B3j_oliwski
English Google translation:

“The envoy of the Polish king, Zygfryd von Schröer, brought two chests of files from Sweden; Swedish Archives Secretary Erik Larrson Runnell sent three more cases of Acta Polonica Iudicalia. It was a negligible part of the looted writings; Jan Sobieski managed to recover a small part from the old library of Zygmunt August and the Waza family. (...) A huge neglect of the Polish side was also the lack of an article in the contract on the return by Sweden of plundered works of art. in: Besala J., op. cit.

[henryk]

https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7791/Ar ... lish-relic

Sweden says it won’t return plundered Polish relic
Polish Radio 28.07.2022 07:00

Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde has dismissed a call for the return to Warsaw of a Polish national relic that has been in her country since the 17th century. The relic in question is the Łaski Statutes, the first codification of law published in the historic Kingdom of Poland.

The initiative to return it to Poland came from Swedish lawmaker Björn Söder, a member of the Sweden Democrats parliamentary group.

In a reply to his letter, Linde referred to “a restrictive stand applied by most countries on the question of returning cultural and historical treasures looted in war time to their former owners ...” She said that, under 17th-century international law, such spoils of war were legitimate acquisitions.

Dating from 1506, the Łaski Statutes is one of the oldest preserved Polish legal acts. In 2016, it was added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World list. Of its two extant copies, one is kept in the collections of the Central Archive of Historical Records in Warsaw. The other, kept at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, was among the many works of art and relics that were plundered during the Swedish invasion and occupation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the mid-17th century, known as the Deluge.

In his letter to Linde, Söder cited the fact that Poland was one of the first countries to ratify Sweden’s and Finland’s bids to join NATO and asked “whether in view of Poland’s concern for the security of Sweden ... the foreign ministry should not consider a goodwill gesture and come up with an initiative to return the Łaski Statutes?”

(mk/gs)

[LAstry2]

Bummer..... :roll:
The Swede should remember this is the 21st Century not the 17th Century...suppose the process had been reversed//Poland holds a 17th Century relic,,,,from Sweden....would not the swede apeal to get their History Back...??? Up to me Id return it...{Ive got both Polish and Sweedish ancestory} for a practical reason...the objevct in question is Polish histry...while it contributes nothing to Swedish history...except as stolen looted War relic...

Similar to the case of the Parathan scuppltures.....stolen from greece while it was still part of the Ottman empire.....the sasenash still refuse to part with it.....