WAHLERT Rechtsanwälte represents Augustinian Vicariate Vienna with regard to Mendel-Manuscript
PRESS STATEMENT
of Augustinian Vicariate Vienna re. the manuscript of Gregor Mendel
“Experiments on Plant Hybridization”
Since 1987 the original manuscript of Gregor Mendel finds itself in the Federal Republic of Germany and is now stored for the Augustinian Order by WAHLERT Rechtsanwälte, an attorney’s office in Stuttgart.
Gregor Mendel belonged to the Augustinian Order. In 1865 as an Augustinian of the Augustinian Abbey in Brünn (now Czech Republic) Mendel, the later abbot, drafted a scientific paper titled “Experiments on Plant Hybridization”. The paper was printed and published throughout all of Europe in the subsequent year. Mendel’s scientific paper describes the Laws of Heredity and identifies him as the originator of modern genetics. Mendel’s Laws of Heredity– together with Darwin’s work – form the basis of modern scientific genetics and evolutionary theories respectively.
After Gregor Mendel’s death in 1884 the original manuscript remained in the Augustinian Abbey in Brünn. Although Mendel’s scientific paper had been printed and published it fell into oblivion. Years later it was rediscovered and handed over to the Natural Research Society for storage. Due to the difficult political situation after World War II – the Augustinian cloister in Brünn has been dissolved by the Czechoslovakian State in 1950 – the manuscript has been stored by several clerical and private persons of the Augustinian Order. In 1987 the manuscript was handed over from a Czech Augustinian to an Augustinian of the Augustinian Vicariate Vienna and - in this way - arrived in Germany. There it was entrusted to Father Clemens, another member of the Augustinian Vicariate Vienna, in order to be stored for the Augustinian Order.
Father Clemens, a relative of Gregor Mendel, who lives close to Stuttgart (Germany), decided in May of this year – in respect of his advanced age - to bring the manuscript to Vienna, the domicile of the Augustinian Vicariate Vienna. The manuscript could not be transferred to Vienna because the Ministry of Science, Research and Art Baden-Württemberg has opened proceedings to analyze whether the manuscript is a German cultural treasure that is not allowed to be taken out of the country. In accordance with State Secretary Dr. Birk of the Ministry of Science Baden-Württemberg the manuscript has been stored by the attorney’s office WAHLERT Rechtsanwälte on behalf of the Augustinian Vicariate Vienna from that time on.
It is the explicit desire of the Augustinian Order to make the manuscript accessible to the public. Thus upon approval by the Augustinian Order the manuscript has been digitalized by the Bavarian State Library. Anyone can obtain a digitalized copy of the manuscript from the Bavarian State Library from now on. The Augustinians will also give the public access to the original manuscript in memory of the outstanding natural scientist and catholic order priest Gregor Mendel. It has not yet been decided where the manuscript will be stored.
Several media quoting that the Augustinians have put “massive pressure” on Father Clemens to “enforce” the transfer of the manuscript to Vienna and quoting that Father Clemens has been threatened with the exclusion from the Order is completely unfounded.
Rechtsanwalt Dr. Teller, legally representing the Augustinian Vicariate Vienna, says:
“The accusations of several members of Gregor Mendel’s family that have been placed by public authorities and the media are completely unfounded.
The Augustinian Vicariate has retained us – in accordance with Gregor Mendel’s family – to store the manuscript until it has been decided in a legally binding way whether the manuscript is a German cultural treasure. Nevertheless criminal proceedings regarding the transfer of the manuscript to a foreign country have been opened at the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Police Authority of Baden-Württemberg as well as the German Customs Authority. Furthermore search warrants for members of the Augustinian Order, Father Dominic from Vienna (Austria) and Father Clemens from Stuttgart (Germany), have been issued by the German Customs Authority. This is outrageous.
Father Clemens has handed over to me the manuscript at our office in Stuttgart in the presence of another member of the Mendel family. It was his desire that the manuscript remains with the Augustinian Order to remind of the fact that his ancestor Gregor Mendel was an Augustinian. Since several members of the Mendel family had put great pressure on Father Clemens to keep the manuscript I had the impression that he was very relieved when he handed over the manuscript to me.
Gregor Mendel’s manuscript is not a German cultural treasure since Gregor Mendel had studied in Vienna for several years after joining the Augustinian Order and has done his research in the Augustinian Abbey in Brünn. Therefore our clients may bring the manuscript out of the country after the end of the proceedings.
As a matter of course the manuscript belongs to the Augustinian Order and not to the descendants of Gregor Mendel. Gregor Mendel had been an Augustinian monk for many years when he made his pioneering research. According to the Canon Law as being the applicable jurisdiction for church orders in Brünn in the 19th century, Mendel, as an Augustinian monk, was “not capable of gainful employment and ownership”. Thus the manuscript had already been in the ownership of the Augustinian Order at the time of its origination in 1865. Consequently the ownership of the manuscript could not have been transferred by heritage to the descendants of Gregor Mendel after his death.
The majority of the Mendel family believes that the manuscript belongs to the Augustinian Order. Only several individual members of the family seem to be of the opinion – due to any undisclosed motives - that the manuscript belongs to the descendants of Mendel and is not allowed to be taken to a foreign country.”
On behalf of the Augustinian Vicariate Vienna
Rechtsanwalt Dr. Horst Teller
WAHLERT Rechtsanwälte
Friedrichstraße 9A
70174 Stuttgart
Germany
Email: horst.teller@wahlert-law.com
Tel.: ++49 (0) 711 1876 277
www.wahlert-law.com
For the printable version of this statement please click on the print-button at the top of this site on the left.
Please pay attention to the following press responses:
A Family Feud Over Mendel’s Manuscript on the Laws of Heredity
New York Times
published: 31.05.2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/science/01mendel.html?scp=1&sq=Mendel&st=cse
Wem gehört Gregor Mendel?
Die Presse
published: 01.06.2010
http://diepresse.com/home/science/570601/index.do?from=suche.intern.portal
Streit um Mendels Nachlass
Welt online
published: 31.05.2010
http://www.welt.de/die-welt/wissen/article7857777/Streit-um-Mendels-Nachlass.html
Das Erbe des Erbsenzählers
Focus
published 31.05.2010
page 36 and 37
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