Hungary's reformed church has welcomed a decision by Russia to return a valuable Calvinist book collection, six decades after it was seized as war booty by the Soviet Red Army.
"We're very happy this collection is returning after so many years, and we hope all the books will be included," said Zoltan Tarr, general secretary of Hungary's Reformed Church, which comprises about a fifth of Hungary's 10 million inhabitants. "It's an important symbolic act, which could help heal the war wounds which are still very real in the life of Europe."
The collection, including Latin, Hungarian and German prayer books, as well as works on medicine, law and history, was placed for safe-keeping during the Second World War in a Budapest bank vault. Later the books were seized and taken to Russia, where they were discovered in Nizhny Novgorod's Regional Scientific Library in 1994. – ENI
