A donor wrests control of his weapon from the Jo'burg War Museum
Who owns the fabulous Sword of Stalingrad, for more than 40 years a crowd-pulling centrepiece of Joburg’s Military History Museum? We do! insists the museum’s director, John Keene. No, I do! counters distinguished neurosurgeon Martin Lewer-Allen.
History records three truly legendary swords: King Arthur’s Excalibur, the Sword of Damocles and the Sword of Stalingrad. The last, a magnificent two-handed bejewelled broadsword with solid silver crossguard, was presented to the people of Stalingrad by King George VI in honour of the Russian army’s victory over Hitler's troops in a brutal battle that turned the tide of World War 2. Stalin accepted the sword from Sir Winston Churchill at the Teheran Conference in 1943.
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