Businessman Gives Pieces Of Beethoven’s Skull To Austria After His Family Brought Them To USA While Fleeing Nazis

An American-Jewish businessman has handed over pieces of Ludwig van Beethoven’s skull to a university in Austria after he inherited them from his family.

US businessman Paul Kaufmann donated the 10 fascinating skull fragments to the Medical University of Vienna, in Austria, for research purposes on Thursday, 20th July.

Kaufmann had reportedly became heir to the pieces after his great-uncle Franz Romeo Seligmann brought them over the pond upon fleeing the Nazis during the second world war.

Seligman – a famous medical historian and anthropologist at the time – had acquired the bone fragments when Beethoven’s bones were reburied in Vienna, in 1863, before he gave them to Kaufmann’s mother.

Now in a conference held at the Josephinum Museum in Vienna, Kaufmann said that he was pleased the bones were finally back where they belong.

He said in a statement obtained by Newsflash from the Medical University in Vienna: “I feel very privileged to be able to put my inherited Beethoven skull fragments back where they belong.

“They will not only come ‘home’, where Beethoven now rests forever, but also to the Medical University of Vienna, which will have them available for research.

“I am grateful that the University has accepted my donation for the benefit of the people of Vienna, a city I love very much for its beauty and rich history, and which is also the birthplace of my mother and her family.”

The bone parts reportedly include two bigger pieces, one from the back of the head and one from the right side of the forehead.

The famous classical music composer first began losing his hearing in his mid-twenties, and went completely deaf by the time he turned 45.

Yet even when deaf he was still able to compose masterpieces of music such as his most famous symphony – Symphony No. 9 – also known as ‘The Ninth’ in 1824.

He died of unknown reasons at the age of 56 in 1827, with the cause of his deafness still posing a mystery to scientists today.

But researchers at Vienna now hope the fragments will help them detect what illnesses he suffered and his cause of death.

Forensic pathologist Christian Reiter who had worked with the fragments in the past added: “With further investigations, for example on a DNA basis, we will get closer to the question of whether it is actually Ludwig van Beethoven.

“In any case, we are very grateful to Mr Kaufmann for bringing these witnesses of the past back to Vienna.”

And University of Vienna rector Markus Mueller added: “We gratefully accept these fragments and will store them responsibly.

“Our collections in the Josephinum [Museum] are the right place for this.”

Mueller continued: “It’s about finding the right balance between understandable public interest and respect for a deceased person.

“The Josephinum is also the right place to take over the fragments because Beethoven’s doctor, Johann Adam Schmidt, was also a professor at the Josephinum and Beethoven himself wished during his lifetime that his illness be examined and researched after his death.”