Published 7 July 2021 at 11.56
Kulturnyheter. The National Heritage Board has submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands regarding the return of the book Nippon, which was stolen by the so-called KB man.
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Two previous instances have rejected the claims from Sweden. They believe that too much time has passed since Sweden became aware of where the book was and that the lawsuit was filed.
The National Heritage Board questions that interpretation because the authority did not find out where the book was until 23 September 2015 when the Royal Library informed the National Heritage Board where they thought the book was and who owned it.
The National Heritage Board is the only authority that can arouse this type of action under the Return Directive.
A trial in the Dutch Supreme Court normally takes about a year.
In September 2005, the German police conducted a house search at the request of the Swedish state at a auction company that had put the book up for sale. Two employees from the Royal Library participated in the house search.
According to the EU's return directive, which Sweden invokes, the action must be brought within three years from the time when the recovering state became aware of where the illegally executed cultural property was. The lawsuit was submitted on 21 February 2018. The judgment in the first instance was announced in January 2019. The National Heritage Board appealed the ruling to the second instance, which on 7 April 2021 rejected the National Heritage Board's appeal. That judgment can be appealed until July 6, 2021, which the National Heritage Board now does.
The book Nippon has the full name Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan und dessen Neben- und Schutzländern: Jezo mit den südlichen Kurilen, Krafto, Koorai and the Liukiu Islands. It is written by Philipp Franz von Siebold and printed in Leyden in 1852. It is a work that is considered unique and extremely valuable from both an economic and cultural-historical point of view. The book was stolen from the Royal Library by the so-called KB man before it was bought in 2003 by a Dutch bookseller from an auction house abroad.