Until 1924 the bust was hidden, its first appearance was in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. The Egyptian government was very surprised to see the statue and began to threaten the German excavation to ban them from doing excavation in Egypt until the restitution of the bust, but the German did not care about this threat. In 1929 other artifacts were placed to be exchanged with the bust by the Egyptian government, but German declined,[190] These artifacts are two Statues of (Ra Nefer), and Amenhotep Ibn Habu[191]. Another attempt to restitute the bust by the Egyptian government was done and in the beginning, Adolf Hitler who was the Nazis leader did not mind to return the bust, but after he saw it he had fallen in love with the bust and refused the restitution. Eberhard von Stürer, the German ambassador in Egypt had been told by Hitler a message to send to the Egyptian government “I am one of the big fans of the queen Nefertiti, she brings me joy to my heart, the bust is a masterpiece and a unique treasure. I am planning to build a new Egyptian museum in Berlin. I am dreaming of this. I will build inside a room surmounted by a great dome, and the magnificent Nefertiti will sit a crowned queen in the middle of it, and I will never give up the queen's head”[192].

“The lovely woman is no more”
After the end of WWII in 1970 specially in Berlin, something disastrous happened, Steffen Wenig, the curator on the duty on the museum island ordered his colleagues to come back to work during their vacation for an urgent meeting. He started his talk saying “Nefertiti the lovely woman, is no more, a visitor child knocked over the statue, and fell on the floor causing it to shatter. The statue mentioned belongs to Nefertiti that was found on November 26,1912 by the Egyptologist Hermann Ranke. The statue was as fragments on the floor between room 19, and 18 in the so-called house of the sculptor Thutmose. The statue was broken in ancient times, they collected the fragments, and reconstructed it in the Berlin museum. The statue is made of limestone as the bust of Nefertiti. After around 57 years the statue was broken in the Berlin museum under the authority of the museum curator, and German authority. The head was broken into seven parts, the neck was broken into four pieces, and the rest of the body was shattered into many pieces. After the accident of the statue Uta von Eickstedt is the restorer who worked on it, his restoration for the statue was not correct according to Venice charter 1964 (before the accident 1970 happened). The restorer used metal splint instead of limestone to reconstruct the statue, also he did not reconstruct the right hand which its reconstruction was possible due to plaster replicas. All these restoration works according to Venice charter 1964 article No 9 which states that “The process of restoration is a highly specialized operation. Its aim is to preserve and reveal the aesthetic and historic value of the monument and is based on respect for original material and authentic documents. It must stop at the point where conjecture begins, and in this case moreover any extra work which is indispensable must be distinct from the architectural composition and must bear a contemporary stamp. The restoration in any case must be preceded and followed by an archaeological and historical study of the monument” [193]. According to all the accidents, and series mentioned above the antiquities suffer from smuggling by the west, do not have a proper preservation standard, nor will they get proper conservation works as Nefertiti’s statue had.  

Antiquities during WWII 

In the first half of the 20th century the interest in Egyptology in Europe had reached its peak, this also generated the desire to acquire other types of antiquities. The Europeans started to challenge each other to collect magnificent antiquities as national collections for their countries, and private ones as Sir John Soane private collection 8. In 1939 World War II started, led by Adolf Hitler whose dream was to control the world and to collect all the antiquities in Europe. It was clearly a turbulent period; Due to the widespread plundering and the nations' desire to protect their national treasures steps were taken to secure and move their most precious artifacts. His project was titled Hitler's Dream, it was to construct a huge museum in the Austrian city of Linz, many works of art were collected for the project. By the end of the war, there were Nazis speculating about the secret locations where many works would be concealed, and in the event of real defeat, Hitler ordered them to destroy every piece they had. 

During 1943, the works of art had been transferred to different mines in Altaussee, Merkers, and a copper mine at Siegen. Michelangelo’s Madonna (Virgin Mary) of Bruges that was stolen from the church of Virgin Mary, and Jan van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece stolen from Saint Bavo Cathedral were hidden in the Altaussee mine. Lately, many rumors suggest that it is in a Swiss bank vault[194].