The Eagle of the Admiral Graf Spee is on sale

[VON THERMANN]

The Justice of Uruguay ordered the sale of a bronze eagle with swastika and crown of oak leaves that belonged to the warship "Admiral Graf Spee", which was part of the German Navy during the Second World War, after years of judicial dispute.

The Ministry of Defense must sell the sculpture within a period of 90 days and deliver 50 percent of the amount obtained to the signatories of the contract that worked on the recovery of the piece, the Uruguayan newspaper "El País" reported.

The eagle, 2.80 meters high and 350 kilos, which was located at the stern of the ship, was rescued in 2006 by businessman Alfredo Etchegaray, who welcomed the court decision.

The businessman told Uruguayan radio that the government should accept the ruling and allocate its share of the sale to the education system or the Navy of the South American country.

The German Government, for its part, sought to avoid an eagle sale in the market, since it does not want the eagle to fall into the hands of people who venerate Nazism. For the Government in Berlin, the ideal would be for the eagle to end up in a museum.

This Tuesday, the Uruguayan Ministry of Defense decided to appeal the judicial decision, for which it has 15 working days of deadline to present the appeal. Article 20 of Law 14,343 establishes that Prefectura must dispose for free or onerous vessels stranded, sunk or their remains.