Thursday, February 27
Boy with Octopus: Who is stealing Berlin’s bronze statues?
Berlin’s public art is disappearing. The latest theft occurred between the night of Thursday, February 20, and the early hours of Friday, February 21, in a sleepy park in the Tempelhof district. Thieves targeted Boy with Octopus, a 1.5-meter bronze statue depicting a nude 12-year-old boy struggling to free his hand from a sucking octopus. Created by 19th-century Italian artist Eduardo Rossi, the statue had stood in Francke Park since 1987, acquired by the district after a Berlin firm’s bankruptcy.
This is not the only case. Berlin police also reported the theft of another bronze statue – a reclining nude – stolen from the Pankow grave of artist and professor Heinrich Drake, a founding member of the Weißensee Art School. The theft was discovered on February 6.
Authorities are seeking information on both crimes, warning that the statues may have already been sold, exchanged, or used as collateral.
