Imagine stumbling across a few scraps of fabric and realising they’re part of one of Europe’s most famous artworks.
That’s exactly what happened in northern Germany, where historians uncovered two tiny fragments of the Bayeux Tapestry.
They sent them back to France more than 80 years after they were stolen.
The pieces, each just a few centimetres long, were found in the archives of a German textile expert, Karl Schlabow.
He worked in France during the Nazi occupation in 1941.
Researchers believe he quietly removed the fragments while studying the tapestry.
It was part of a sinister Nazi project obsessed with so-called “ancestral heritage”.
Historic Fragments Returned
So what gave them away? Labels, documents, and a careful inventory carried out in 2023.
“It was obvious they had to be returned,” said Rainer Hering, head of the Schleswig-Holstein archives, as he handed them to Bayeux’s mayor.
The fragments likely came from the underside of the 70-metre embroidery that famously tells the story of William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings.
Small pieces, yes—but from a monument of history.
Their return comes just as debate swirls over plans to loan the tapestry to London.
Artist David Hockney has called the move “madness”, warning some treasures are simply too fragile to travel.
After all, when a story has survived nearly a thousand years, isn’t protecting it the real victory?
