This is not edifying: Father Gregor (or was he Brother) is probably turning in his grave
(Small earthquake in Brno.)
Mendel family and Augustinian Order duke it out over manuscript of Mendel's paper on his pea-breeding experiments.
I'm puzzled as to why it should be a German cultural treasure. (Okay, have checked and the Mendel family were ethnic Germans living in what, at that time, was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.)
And even if it is, should be buried in a bank safe deposit box rather than being in an archive (do bank deposit boxes even conform to British Standard 5454 for storage of archives, or EC equivalent?) where it could be consulted by scholars?
Given that the then Abbot of the monastery burnt all of Mendel's papers after his death (the paper itself survived via the Brunn Natural History Society), I'm not at all persuaded that the institution has any particular moral right.
And am totally not sure that monk's possessions fall to their relatives after death (because they don't actually have possessions to leave...)
The whole thing is rather horrifying to the historian and archivist, though o dear, not exactly surprising.
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