TIRANA, Feb. 22 -- France agreed to return more than 1.5 tons of gold to Albania that the Nazis seized during World War II, an Albanian official said Thursday. The Albanian treasure, originally seized by German troops from the Bank of Rome in 1943, has been held for the past 50 years by the Allies, after a 1946 incident in the Strait of Corfu, off Albania's Adriatic coast.
Albanian Deputy Prime Minister Dylber Vrioni said he had signed an agreement with French Treasury official Villeroy de Galhau for the return of half the gold, or 55,500 ounces, which is worth some $22 million at current prices. The other half will be used to compensate Britain for the destruction of a British warship by Albanian mines in the Strait of Corfu in 1946, after World War II had ended, he said. The gold, which Allied forces recovered in Germany after the Nazi defeat, was held in France after Britain accused Albania of illegally planting mines in the strait in 1946. Britain took its case to the International Court at The Hague, which found Tirana responsible for the mining incident, in which 44 British troops were killed. The communist government, in power in Tirana at the time of the incident, refused to accept the ruling. With the fall of communism in Albania in 1991, negotiations to recover the gold resumed, and the agreement to return half of the gold was signed after the current Tirana government accepted The Hague ruling. Galhau said the agreement was of symbolic importance, as it 'marked the end of a difficult period for Albania.' Albanian authorities must choose between taking back the original coins or accepting foreign currency. The coins have a different value on the collectors' market.
