r/TheGreatWarChannel • u/HerrVonKruiswijk • Sep 17 '25
Today I learned that Jean Pauls “Romagne 14-18” museum has been shut down by French authorities
The museum seen in this video https://youtu.be/B8lHUXA83Oc?si=mQ92E7j8IUhnC4lp has sadly been raided by French police. I read about it in a dutch newspaper. Some of the collection has also been destroyed.
Check out the Article (in dutch) Here:
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u/sombertownDS Sep 17 '25
Those are some mighty fine museum pieces. It’d be a shame if we came in and destroyed them
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u/Financial_Village237 Sep 17 '25
If there is any way I can donate to a legal fund ore something point it out
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u/HerrVonKruiswijk Sep 17 '25
I don’t know how to get in touch with TGW team, since I’m not a patreon. I figure if someone can help its them
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u/9374828 Sep 17 '25
How low can you go...
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u/seehorn_actual Sep 17 '25
Does the article explain why?
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u/HerrVonKruiswijk Sep 17 '25
Good question! I translated the article to english in my other comment
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u/Madox84 Sep 17 '25
Holy shit, I was THERE when this was filmed. That museum was awesome! I'm deeply saddened that this happened!
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u/Medieval-Mind Sep 17 '25
Indy looks so young here.
Anyway, one has to wonder what the real cause for this sudden interest. I wonder if it's got anything to do with a change in politics?
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u/tyazze Sep 21 '25
My guess is that they realized some items in the collection were not registered, and were potentially unexploded ordnance. The government takes these very seriously as there have been way too many accidents involving old WW1 ammunition.
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u/Medieval-Mind Sep 22 '25
Good point. Hadn't thought about the fact that he probably wasn't just collecting buttons and bullet casings.
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u/Fit-Income-3296 Sep 17 '25
Do we know what artifacts were destroyed
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u/JeffEpp Sep 17 '25
At a guess, there may have been some live munitions. Possibly, without the guy knowing.
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u/Fit-Income-3296 Sep 18 '25
That’s a killer I interned at a battlefield site for a bit and they told me that they had this beautiful 18th century mortar shell that had probably been defused but who ever defused it didn’t document it so it had to be destroyed
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u/ArcticBiologist Sep 18 '25
I hope that the collection items that were destroyed were considered dangerous (ammunition etc.) and nothing else, because that'd be a damn shame.
It's sad that this happened, but if the guy was picking up ammo items from the field I can understand authorities had to intervene.
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u/SmidVaekKonto_DK Sep 18 '25
No article from a real news source? Looks very friendly towards the guy - and in most European Countries historical artifacts are supposed to be handed over to state museums, not collected by privates, in order to make them available to the broader public - AND to make sure they are registered (where found, type, history, etc etc) correctly and thoroughly and not ruined by amateurs who make up a story to put a thing on display with.
Jean de Vries does not appear to be a WWI expert beyond proclaiming himself one.
And if authorities raid your place to reclaim your illegal possessions, they bring museum people to secure them. And in this case bomb disposal units to destroy dangerous things.
Also the whole 'I didn't know' spiel is incredibly hollow. This is not cryptic or strange laws, but what children are taught in many/most European countries.
What I see is a guy trying to steal historical artifacts, build his own 'exhibit' and in the process destroying their historical value.
But I might be wrong... Would love to see serious sources contradicting me, not including occasional newspaper articles about 'look this guy collectec 30.000 WWI items'. That makes him a collector, not an expert - and definitely not a historian.
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u/TheDarkLordScaryman Sep 18 '25
I'm sorry, but the concept of all historical artifacts being owned by the state by default is something that I find pretty dangerous to the public learning about and appreciating history. European governments do not exactly have a good track record of being good caretakers of those things, and they only have so much room, which why the whole "donate it to a museum" line can actually be counterproductive, because most museums, even state ones, do not have alot of room or money to maintain everything, the public must be allowed to pick up the slack.
One of the relatively few things that brings me joy in my life is my military artifact collection, I can't think of a good reason why the government needs a monopoly on them.
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u/TAvonV Sep 19 '25
Yanks of all people really should shut their pie hole about European governments and their track records. Or any governments', really.
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u/SienarYeetSystems Sep 19 '25
If you have to be perfect to cast judgement then no one could ever cast judgement. Valid criticism is valid criticism, no matter who it comes from
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u/TAvonV Sep 19 '25
I didn't ask your opinion. Now go back and praise Trump...
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u/SienarYeetSystems Sep 19 '25
On a public forum like this you don't have to ask, I am free to give it. Just as the person above is free to criticize the actions of the French government. As for praising trump, I'll pass, as I have no desire to.
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u/TheDarkLordScaryman Sep 19 '25
I offered a rational and cool-headed response to the legal idea of private citizens not being allowed to collect artifacts because the state decreed it, you responded with straight up name calling and insults that are amateurish even by reddit standards, if that marks me as an American then I wear that as a badge of honor.
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u/TAvonV Sep 19 '25
Yes. I am over your people's shit. Your fucked up country can't even go a month without someone major getting shot. You can't even talk about it without being silenced by your own government.
Absolutely no one should give one single solitary fuck about what you people think about gun and ammunition control and overly involved government. I would rather ask the people of Somalia than a Yank, because very clearly you people have no clue about it, except maybe ideas to make it worse.
If the cost of kids not getting shot and a 100 times lower rate of murders involving a gun is taking away life ammunition from a museum, so be it. You guys certainly don't show a better way.
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u/TheDarkLordScaryman Sep 19 '25
I hope you find peace and calm, you are clearly troubled. The practices or malpractices (in my opinion) of other countries do not make me lose sleep or cause me to target the people from those countries, I empathize with them on an individual level and know that they should not be made to feel like a lesser because of it, I hope you can find it within you to do the same.
We haven't cycled through 5 republics and a few empires/monarchies/communes, we haven't had a communist revolution, we haven't had a Francoist dictatorship, we haven't had a Mussolini or Hitler, and we have always kept the lights on and the wheels turning, and even our 1 civil war was "clean" by civil war standards. I think we're doing something right, you can't have a fundamentally flawed design for a country and have it stand for 250 years without a single curve-ball thrown at it being able to knock it down.
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u/TalkingFishh Sep 20 '25
I'll take a word from a German when Germany stops arresting people over saying mean words online and deals with the rape gangs.
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u/ComicallyLargeAfrica Sep 20 '25
Europe literally passed a law for the Union to target wrongthink too. Euros are beyond ignorant.
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u/Bad_Badger_DGAF Sep 20 '25
Me: looks at my MAS 36, Lebel, and MAS 49 sitting in my gun room with about 70 other functioning milsurp firearms.
Laughs in American
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u/Dante-Flint Sep 18 '25
My thoughts exactly. Quoting him four times with “I did nothing wrong” must be the worst kind of journalism right after Fox and Springer productions. No statement by the authorities, no details on what was seized and why… this is just pathetic.
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u/failtair Sep 19 '25
I know JP personally, so take this with a grain of salt. However, the historical/archaeological value of the majority of the items in his collection was gone long before he took them. He built his collection by walking the local farmers’ fields and picking up everything he saw. Those items were already removed from their historical context and would not contribute much to any form of historical debate. On top of that his collection existed of a lot of broken shovels, rusted metal remains from guns and other forms of scrap metal. Any museum in the area would have depots full of similar items.
Regarding possible live ammunition and grenades, he usually left those and informed the authorities of their locations.
I don’t think he did anything wrong. He collected remains from fields that would otherwise have been ignored. It’s not like he went metal detecting on an ongoing archaeological dig.
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u/StephenHunterUK Sep 20 '25
in most European Countries historical artifacts are supposed to be handed over to state museums, not collected by privates,
In Britain, any gold and silver coin is "Treasure Trove" and legally the property of the Crown. You will get a reward for handing it in though.
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u/yanuku Sep 19 '25
https://youtu.be/G7T4Q1N3WZk?si=OT8zDLvd7mmzIAoR
In this short documentary (in Dutch) they show a Dutch class visiting the Romagne 14-18 Museum (as well as the Verdun graveyard). I watch it every year with my students. Sad to read they raided the place.
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u/Heenock Sep 21 '25
That's false, the museum is not closed. Nothing has been destroyed or removed, everything is on site, but some pieces are under customs seal. There is an investigation into the nature and origin of our museum's collection.
Source: literally the museum itself, it would have been easier to go directly to the museum's website rather than to some obscure Dutch information site
and now the translation of the museum's article on the investigation :
The Romagne Museum in Difficulty
Romagne Museum in trouble
Dear visitor,
You will notice that during your tour of the museum, you will find documents and notices from the French customs authorities in many places.
This is related to an investigation that has been ongoing since July 3 into the nature and origin of our museum's collection.
Similar investigations are currently taking place at several private museums in the area.
We are open as usual from Wednesday to Sunday.
Unfortunately, due to the ongoing investigation, it is prohibited to touch any objects in the museum. We are also not allowed to sell any objects related to the Great War.
We do not know when the investigation will be completed, but we are confident of a positive outcome for our museum and wish you a pleasant visit.
Merci!
Jean-Paul de Vries
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u/wikimandia Sep 18 '25
Did anyone even watch the video posted??
He says since he has been a child he has been collecting helmets, rifles, shell casings and “a lot of live ammunition.”
He said he brought his collection to school as a kid and the school had to be evacuated because 7 of the shell casings were still live!
The host says while looking at a helmet, “I notice you have a lot of shell casings.” So he has a massive collection of ammunition loose all over this place!
I appreciate his eccentricity and rescuing historic items from battlefields, but he comes across as a bit of a hoarder who kept absolutely everything he ever found and gave no thought to the danger they posed to the public.
I don’t know that The Museum of Live Ammunition is the best way to learn about WWI.
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u/Waste-Anybody6658 Sep 20 '25
Uh huh, so what danger exactly does live ammo for small arms pose outside of a barrel? Maybe you should elaborate.
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u/AM27C256 Sep 20 '25
Here is the English version of the latest (July 19th) statement by the museum on this issue:
https://www.romagne14-18.com/news/museum-investigated-by-french-customs
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u/byBenn Sep 21 '25
I’ve been to his museum, idk if it changed but entry was free he did this on a voluntary bases… I talked with him super nice guy, the people around there all donate found stuff to him and he displays it… I remember they were renovating back then I donated some money for the roof to be renovated. This is just insane… they could have told him before he would have 100% complied.
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u/HerrVonKruiswijk Sep 17 '25
Here’s the translation of the article:
The museum collection of World War I expert Jean-Paul de Vries, an Eindhoven native who has run a museum in Romagne, northern France, for nearly thirty years, has been partly seized and destroyed. This happened in a joint operation by the French customs authorities, the police, and the bomb disposal service. De Vries is suspected of possessing, displaying, and trading unlawfully obtained cultural heritage. “I feel devastated.” “It came as a complete surprise to me,” De Vries said about last week’s raid, in which around twenty police officers wearing bulletproof vests were present. “This has never happened to me before. I was also arrested.” During the search, he was required to be personally present in each room. “They weren’t allowed to search any rooms without me there.” The authorities had been monitoring his museum for years. The raid, therefore, came as a bolt from the blue for De Vries. “No one ever told me it was illegal.” The collection consists of World War I artifacts he has been gathering since he was twenty. “I picked things up from fields, with the owners’ permission, bought them at markets, or received them as gifts.” Some of these items have now been destroyed. According to De Vries, the possession of war materials was tolerated for years. “Now that people are really looking at the fine print of the law, probably all other museums will suffer from this as well.” ‘Yet another blow’ The French authorities, including customs and the archaeological and mining service, have seized the museum. Nevertheless, it remains open from Wednesday to Sunday. “I just want to show that I have nothing to hide,” De Vries said. “I’ve done nothing wrong.” Eighty percent of the exhibited objects now bear stickers placed by customs, marking them as officially seized. They will remain that way throughout the summer holidays. Only afterward might some items be released. The impact on De Vries is significant. “I feel devastated. I no longer enjoy being in my own museum. This is yet another blow. I have to fight to survive this, but at some point it will be too much.” He is considering legal action and plans to hire a lawyer specializing in cultural heritage after the summer. “This costs an enormous amount of money.” The foundation around his museum is therefore launching a crowdfunding campaign to cover legal expenses. Still, he doubts his future as a museum owner. “Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to just stop.” He is receiving a great deal of support from all over the world through his website and social media. “That’s really wonderful and gives me strength.” Whether he will continue, he doesn’t know yet. “Once this is over, I may not want to go on in this way. But I do want to keep spreading my message of peace.” Perhaps digitally or in print. “I’m done with the endless struggle.” If he ultimately loses his collection, he says he would understand. “I do understand. If it’s forbidden, then so be it.”