Władysław Czachórski’s Cleopatra was housed in the Greater Poland Museum in Poznań (Muzeum Wielkopolskie w Poznaniu), today the National Museum in Poznań (Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu). The museum, containing over one hundred thousand objects, was established by Prussian officials as the Provincial Museum in Poznań in 1894, renamed the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in 1902, and then the Greater Poland Museum in 1918 to mark Poland’s independence.

Following the swift invasion and occupation of Poland by the Nazis in September 1939, Poland’s cultural heritage was immediately endangered, with many public and private art collections outright confiscated as property of the Third Reich. During the German occupation, the Greater Poland Museum was once again named the Kaiser Friedrich Museum of Posen and requisitioned by Nazi officials. Its new director was Dr. Siegfried Ruehle, an art historian who is thought to have been placed in his position to aid the looting of Polish collections.

Under the administration of Nazi officials, an inventory of the artworks began almost immediately, before they were evacuated. First, the works of foreign artists were taken, then those by Polish artists as well as the Polish ethnographical collection. According to later testimony by Dr. Ruehle, several different locations were used for “safekeeping,” all in Germany. These included a fortress near Meseritz, Castle Reinhardsgrimma, the salt mines of Grasleben, and Castle Schlegel. Taken by truck or train, other collections from Poznań that had been consigned to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum’s protection were also removed, including that of the Archdiocesan Museum (Muzeum Archidiecezjalne) and some private collections. A complete list of objects and their destinations was made but was lost sometime during the war years.

The museum was promoted to the rank of a national museum in 1950. Because all relevant documentation has been lost, it is unknown if Czachórski’s Cleopatra was taken to Germany or remained in Poland. It has not reappeared since the end of the war, and its current whereabouts are unknown.