Family Says Napoleon Stole Its Money

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32050, 26 July 1969, Page 7

Family Says Napoleon Stole Its Money

<N.Z.P.A.-Reut«r> WEST GERMANY. . A family claim for $2143m dating back to 1797 may produce some surprises on August 15 when Parisians celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Napoleon Bonaparte.

“With compound interest that makes about $12,143m by now,” Mr Tirier says. AU 120 known descendants of the family have been summoned to the Rhineside city of Cologne for a conference to plan the latest and most spectacular move in the longstanding battle to get their money back. Just what the “invasion plan” will be Peter Tirier declines to say until the reunion meeting has mapped out final details. But he does say that street demonstrations, meetings and press conferences will be held to draw the attention of the average Frenchman to the family’s claim. “The French will revere Napoleon on his 200th birthday. They say he built roads and did, so many great things for France. Fine, but whose money was he using?” Back in 1938 the Tiriers almost got some compensation for the Napoleonic swoop on their property when the French Prime Minister, Edouard Daladier, approved a part payment.

The Tirier family has been fighting for decades to claim the money from France on the ground that Napoleon stole it from their ancestor, Jean-Johann Thierrey, dur- > ing his conquest of Venice. More than 100 Tiriers from i the United States, the Soviet i Union, France, Holland, Bel- : gium, Sweden, Rumania, Chile and West Germany , plan to demonstrate in Paris , during the bi-centenary celebrations to get their money. , They hope the resignation of President de Gaulle may lead to an eventual settle- ' ment of the claim. J Peter Tirier, an estate agent in Essen and prime mover of this 200th century ' treasure hunt, said that the family wants to make as ] much commotion as possible 1 in Paris “to show the * French, 90 per cent of whom 1 think Napoleon was a god, 5 what a robber he really was.” The family says Napoleon i seized their ancestor’s entire 1 fortune of 60 million gold i francs and had it brought to i Paris in 20 carts, each drawn 1 by four horses. ;

t But World War II broke out 1 before the money could be paid. I Mr Tirier last year em- . ployed one German and four , French lawyers to work on , the family claim and they t are sure that, if it came to . a court of law, they have the • proof to secure the money. It seems that Napoleon once lent the family fortune ;to the French army and , wrote a credit note recordj ing the loan. This document, bearing the Tirier family name, now lies in the bank • of France. But the Tiriers do not ; want to take the case to court. They prefer that their long fight should be rewarded with a voluntary payment by the French Government. They also realise they cannot squeeze 16,000 million marks out of the French Treasury in one blow, particularly under present economic circumstances. They are prepared to settle for a monthly stipend of “several thousand marks” to each of the descendants—for life.