Sitting on his old squeaky bed, he calmly narrated how he kept the Bremen art collection in an old German suitcase under that same bed - the drawings by Rafael, Durer, Rembrandt, Rubens, Goya, Delacroix, Corot, Degas, Rodin, Van Gogh and other famous artists. I asked him if he slept well on that bed, he said "no."
Although often dubbed a looter and criminal, Baldin is still the person who found the art treasures in the basement of the Konigsmark Castle near Brandenburg in 1945. The educated young man knew a lot about art. He could not believe his eyes at first even though the works were signed. Then he ran to his commander and asked him to send a car, but the commander only laughed at him.
So Baldin became the secret keeper of the 364-piece collection of Bremen's Kunsthalle Museum. Bremen had been bombed by the Soviet Union allies, and the drawings were evacuated to a Brandenburg hideout.
I tried to imagine what Captain Baldin had been thinking and feeling as he crossed several borders to bring the invaluable collection home to Moscow. Didn't he realize how closely he had to guard his secret to avoid the most tragic consequences? Even so, he spent night after night making descriptions and carefully copying signatures in order to attribute each work, something only a devoted art expert and a highly cultured individual would do.
In the late 1940s, Baldin shared his secret with Russian architect Alexei Shchusev, and Captain Baldin's secret became a state secret. The paintings were removed to the Beer Tower of the Holy Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius (a large monastery to the northeast of Moscow), away from the public eye to be guarded by monks, who are good at keeping secrets.
Again, Baldin was the one to leak the secret. In early perestroika years, he went to Bremen and talked to the director of Kunsthalle, telling him over coffee that he had saved the collection. Dr. Saltzmann, who believed the collection was lost, was close to a collapse.
The works of art, which were now referred to as "the Baldin collection", provoked an international dispute. Russia and Germany have been ardently discussing "compensatory restitution" for valuable items displaced in WWII.
It looks like a new Baldin collection scandal is budding today. The Russian Culture Fund has hosted a news conference where the Culture Ministry officials were accused of neglecting the opinions of the opponents of returning the displaced valuables to Germany.
Savva Yamshchikov, head of Russia's Association of Art Restorers, proposed to return the collection for a compensation of 30 million euros, while Nikolai Gubenko from the Moscow City Duma, former minister of culture, vehemently condemned such "bargaining". He voiced the position of radical patriots who insist that all the valuables should rightfully belong to Russia as legal compensation for the cultural losses suffered by old Russian cities like Pskov and Novgorod during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
The former culture minister pressed Yamshchikov with such fervor that the chief restorer made a special statement disavowing his earlier request of a 30 million euro compensation.
Yet, none of the current officials appeared at the news conference. Russian and German officials prefer negotiating behind closed doors until they decide on mutually acceptable terms for returning the Baldin collection to Germany.
Russian magazine Itogi wrote that they were rather negotiating a sale, not a "return." "Over 300 drawings will probably be traded for around 20 minor works to remain in Russia and a modest amount of 2 million euros. The money will be spent on restoration work in Novgorod and Pskov," the article says.
Diplomats, art critics and lawyers have been trying to find a solution for the past few years. In Boris Yeltsin's times they publicly promised to return the displaced valuables, only to deny their own words later.
It looks like the late Captain Baldin finally gave the commission a good idea. They decided that the property had been illegally taken to Russia by an individual. Therefore, it can now be returned without any legal procedures because it never belonged to the Russian state. As for the 2 million euros, Germany will have to pay the modest sum for the storage.
Where there is a political will, there is a way to bail us out of the restitution deadlock. Those who follow the developments must have caught Vladimir Putin's hint he let slip in Austria. The Russian president said he understood Vienna's concern about the return of the Duke of Esterhazy Library and the ancient Persian manuscripts collection.
The issue is mentioned in Vienna, and in Berlin Baldin's collection comes up in every serious discussion. The Russian Ministry of Culture was fast to reach consensus with German colleagues after the Heiligendamm G8 summit, which could be an indication that Putin had discussed it with Angela Merkel.
October 14 was mentioned several times at the news conference in the Culture Fund. Some of the participants think Putin and Merkel plan to meet on that day to finally decide on the future of the Baldin collection.
Judging by the fervent attacks on the Russian-German negotiations, many prominent and respected public activists in Russia strongly object to returning any valuables. Gubenko even quoted Napoleon as saying, let them come and take it if they can.
In this situation, the talk of 2 million euros sounds inappropriate. Everyone understands that the valuables must be returned out of goodwill, if at all. Bargaining is out of place here.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
