Pope Francis and French President Emmanuel Macron at the Vatican. File photoPARIS, Oct 25 French second-hand bookseller Patrick Ashuel, who handed over to the Elysee Palace a rare edition of Immanuel Kant's treatise Toward Perpetual Peace, which French President Emmanuel Macron handed to Pope Francis, denied claims that the book was stolen by the Nazis in Lviv during the Second World War. During an audience on Monday, Macron handed Pope Francis one of the first editions of Immanuel Kant's 1796 treatise «Towards Perpetual Peace». On the first page of the book there is a stamp «Academic reading room in Lvov». Immediately after that, suggestions appeared on the Internet that the book could have been stolen during World War II, when Lviv, at that time one of the largest Polish cities, was under German occupation. Ashuel, who specializes in vintage publications. «The history of this publication shows us that it can in no way be connected with Nazi robberies. I have no doubt about it. In addition, being a Jew myself, I am very sensitive to this topic,» said Ashuel agency. According to the second-hand book dealer, this book was purchased from a library in Lviv between 1850 and 1870, then it arrived in France, and ended up in Paris around 1900. Ashuel was resold by the son of a private collector who bought the edition half a century ago. «There are no problems with the book. You can check everything,» the second-hand book dealer added. with Putin
