The journalist Werner Friedenberger has rendered outstanding services to the preservation of archaeological monuments. In 1990 he founded the Künzinger Museumsverein, which Federal President Roman Herzog (1994-1999) also joined at the time. Under Friedenberger’s aegis, the municipality established the Quintana Museum, which opened in 2001 and in which some of the treasures of the past that were discovered in the soil around Künzing could be presented.
The Lower Bavarian town is a historical phenomenon. Findings from the Neolithic to Roman times to the Bavarians came to light there, the region has been continuously inhabited for 7000 years. After the discovery of a fort vicus and a Roman amphitheater, Künzing, as part of the Danube Limes, is now a World Heritage Site. The downside of fame: The fields around Künzing are regularly plagued by robber graves who smell fat loot here. The Treasure Rack, which Bavaria now wants to introduce as the last federal state, is intended to end the raids on the ground. It states that all finds in the ground belong to the state and no longer equally to the finder and the landowner. Friedenberger does not believe that this will change anything.
SZ: Mr. Friedenberger, experts have been calling for it for many years, and now Bavaria has decided to introduce a treasury. Will the robbery and destruction of archaeological monuments now come to an end?
Friedenberger: Our archaeological heritage will continue to disappear; there the cat jumps on the same feet. Under the old rules, the robbers stole from the farmers, now they just plunder state property.
Why Do You Doubt the Effectiveness of the Treasure Rack?
The fact that robber graves with their metal probes have no place on the areas protected in the Bavarian Monument Atlas was previously regulated by law. It didn’t need a treasure trove for that. It is also important what is happening next to a protected area – this is often just as productive from a scientific point of view. If the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments has its way, the so-called “near area” (several hundred meters) should be avoided from any search with a metal probe. That’s easy to say from the desk, but it’s different out in the open. In plain language: robber graves have long since arrived in the 21st century, but the official preservation of monuments is still in the Stone Age when it comes to combating robber graves.
Then what should happen instead?
The key to containing the robber grave pandemic does not lie in the introduction of a treasure chest, as monument conservators and cultural politicians would have us believe. This is a blunt sword in my opinion. The key lies in the expansion of the monument atlas. I appeal to the Minister of Education to include the Künzing World Heritage site in its entirety in the monument atlas. Markus Blume knows what is at stake. He himself visited the Quintana Archaeological Museum in Künzing this year and presented the World Heritage certificate there.
What would change if Künzing was included in the monument atlas?
It would be the most effective lever to stop the looting diggers. So far, the mapped areas in and around Künzing in the Bavarian Monument Atlas are a patchwork quilt. But there are heaps of archaeological finds, especially in the areas that are not in the red zone. It’s hard to keep the robber diggers out there. Imagine it like this: Künzing is on the Unesco World Heritage List – and the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments doesn’t lift a finger to put the community under complete protection, even though the World Heritage title really attracts robber graves. It would help if the state office maps the entire district of Künzing as an archaeological monument. By looking the other way, the state office plays into the hands of the robber graves, invites you to an open day and, with its mapping, which is pure patchwork, also puts up the signpost for the robber graves.
What exactly should be done now?
There would be two options. If you want to prevent the probe going throughout Bavaria, the legislature is in demand. Illegal probes should be punished – as is the case with fish poaching. Second, selectively related to the district of Künzing, the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments alone has the say. A few (for the taxpayer) free clicks with the computer mouse in the monument atlas – and the world heritage site of Künzing would be taboo for robber graves.
What experiences have you had with robber graves?
In all the decades in which I have devoted myself to local history research and museum work, I have not met a single robber graver who showed remorse and handed in the finds, not a single one. On the contrary. Once I scared a robber digger from the field. He had a metal detector the size of a toilet bowl. He stubbornly replied that he had to sell these finds, because after all the probe had cost over 1200 euros. . .
Is behind this hustle and bustle invariably criminal energy?
Some robber diggers develop insidious strategies to get permission from the farmers to walk in the fields with metal probes. You drive to the front door and open the trunk: Inside you will find fragments of ploughshares, harrows, old wrenches, tin cans . . . The robber digger pretends to be the savior and says to the farmer: “I found all of this in your field. If it had gotten into the combine harvester, corn chopper or beet harvester, you would probably have suffered major machine damage…” But robber diggers don’t commit a trivial offence: illegals Probeing is nothing but poaching.