Sometimes history repeating itself can take a completely different turn…
Back in 2015, German authorities raided a man’s house in Heikendorf, northern Germany where they found an old Panther tank along with an aircraft gun and torpedo from WWII. The unnamed German citizen had allegedly bought the tank and the other equipment and hid it away in his basement. There are only 12 Panther tanks left in the world and this guy decides to hide one in his basement (for research purposes?)
A team of prosecutors and lawyers have been trying to settle the negotiations for the penalty of the citizen with little to no luck on an outcome yet. The prosecutors are demanding a heavy fine and a suspended sentence for the 84-year-old on the basis that he broke Germany’s War Weapons Control Act that “regulates the manufacture, sale, and transport of weapons of war.” Whereas the defense claims that’s not the case since the weapons had been demilitarized and were not functional anymore. This news has gotten a lot of attention from different artifacts’ collectors and even from a museum in the U.S that is eager to buy the war-era Panther tank. Some collectors are also interested in the assault rifles and pistols which are also in the defendant’s possession (talk about being a Nazi-era art collector)
Seizing the tank from the man’s house was not an easy task either. A German Army Bergepanzer 3, which is used on the battlefield to recover tanks, had to be used along with 20 soldiers which took them about nine hours to remove all the military gear. The case of the tank is set to conclude in August 2021.
