The Museum of Ethnology in Berlin, later the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, displayed Schliemann's Troy collection until World War II. Then the holdings went into the vault of the Prussian State Bank. The treasure as an "irreplaceable" cultural asset was located in 1945 in the bomb-proof flak tower at the zoo, separated from other finds from Troy. At the end of the war, the treasure was lost for almost 50 years: in 1993, the Russian Minister of Culture confirmed that it was in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. It has been on display there again since 1996. Russia considers itself the rightful owner because of German war crimes, but the Berlin State Museums and the Republic of Turkey also make claims.
"That I intend to keep my ... collection of Trojan antiquities to the German people for eternal possession and unseparated safekeeping ..." (H.S. to Minister Robert Puttkamer, 1880).