STOLEN TREASURE RETURNED; PASTOR TELLS TALE OF MISSING RELICS

An ancient German art treasure, stolen from its hiding place during World War II by an American soldier, is being returned home to the church where it belongs.

The pastor of that church, Friedemann Gosslau, and his wife Uschi, were in Cape Girardeau last week, visiting friends.

The art treasures, church artifacts valued between $50 and $100 million, are on display at the Dallas Museum of Art through April 26. When the Gosslaus return home April 28 or 29, they will take the relics with them.

Near the end of World War II, a Texas soldier, Joe Meador, was assigned to guard the treasures of St. Servatus Church in Quedlinburg, Germany, where Gosslau is now pastor.

The art relics had been hidden in a cave just outside the city during the war.

Meador stole 14 artifacts and shipped the treasurers to his home in Whitewright, Texas. No one seemed to know what had happened to the items.

After the war, Quedlinburg became part of the former East Germany. "We always said in our church you can see only part of the treasure," Gosslau said. "Nobody knows where the other items are. We knew the only chance they would be discovered was in the Middle Age art trade.

"I supposed the items were in West Germany," Gosslau said. Communication with West Germany was forbidden.

Meador died in 1980 and the treasurers were inherited by his brother and sister. German officials learned about the treasurers when Meador's relatives tried to sell one of the items, a jewel-encrusted biblical manuscript written in gold.

Gosslau said Willi Korte, a German lawyer, also had been searching for the lost treasurers.

Korte had researched U.S. Army records and learned the names of 150 army officers who had been stationed at Quedlinburg when the treasurers were stolen. He had begun the process of narrowing the list, when the item appeared on the art market.

Gosslau said a controversy ensued because the German government agreed to pay $3 million for the gold-lettered manuscript.

"A lot of people in Germany and in Dallas said it was wrong to pay for stolen items," he said. "The decision to pay happened before we knew the treasure was all in one hand."

The Germans considered filing a lawsuit for return of the items. Gosslau objected. "I was afraid the process would need more money than to buy back the items."

Lawyers negotiated a deal with Meador's heirs to return all the stolen items for the same $3 million. The deal was struck in 1991.

"This means the end of the war for us," Gosslau said. "It was a wound of war all the time. In my mind, it is no coincidence that the beginning of the return happened when the unification of our country occurred. Both are the end of the war for us."

The artifacts will be displayed in Berlin for one year. "In the meantime, we will restore the rooms for the artifacts," Gosslau said. "We hope in the summer of 1993 to start with the exhibition of our items."

Gosslau explained that for 450 years, the building has been a Lutheran Church. Before that, it was a Catholic church. Many of the treasures are Catholic relics.

"Our church is in the location of the first king of Germany," Gosslau said. "His son, grandson and great grandson ruled there. That was in the time of the Saxons. The kings collected important items for their own church."

Most of the items are from the 10th century. Among the returned treasurers are a chest belonging to King Henry I covered in ivory, an ancient liturgical comb, and a container reported to contain a hair of the Virgin Mary.

Gosslau said estimates of the value of the artifacts are not accurate. "It is impossible to say because there is no market for medieval art."

One Bible, which had already been returned to Germany, was brought back to Dallas for the exhibit. Gosslau said the relic was insured for $4 million and had its own seat on the airplane.

Cape Girardeau was the first place, after Dallas, the Gosslaus wanted to visit. While here, they have visited several churches. Gosslau is interested in the difference between American and German churches.

Craig Nessan, pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church here, visited Germany to study in 1985 and 1986. While there, he met the Gosslaus.

The Gosslaus also know Jim Erdman of Cape Girardeau, who came to Quedlinburg to research a historic organ builder and composer who had lived in that town.

Gosslau said, "We had to live behind the wall all those years. We did not ever dream of one day having a trip to the United States.

"I touched the Mississippi," Gosslau said with enthusiasm. "That was a dream of my childhood."