Looted Nazi Art Hoarder To Discuss Returning $1.3B Trove
Image by getty images
Cornelius Gurlitt, whose hidden collection of classic artworks stunned the world last fall, has signaled he may be ready to talk about restituting some works to their rightful heirs.
Attorney Hannes Hartung told The Wall Street Journal Jan. 24 that: “We want to take responsibility.” But he added that “very few” of the 1,400 works in the collection might be described as looted.
More than 1,400 works were confiscated from Gurlitt nearly two years ago in the course of an investigation for tax evasion. But the public did not learn of the find until last fall, when the German Focus magazine broke the news.
Most of the works had been procured by his father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, a collector and dealer commissioned by the Nazis to buy art for its museums, as well as art that it considered “degenerate,” that could be sold with profits going to the Nazi government.
Under pressure from restitution organizations, heirs and attorneys, the state prosecutor in Augsburg has provided photos and descriptions of hundreds of works of questionable provenance for publication on the website of Germany’s provenance-research authority, www.lostart.de.
In addition, a task force has been established to research the provenance of all works in the collection.
In related news, Pia Müller-Tamm, director of the Karlsruhe City Museum, announced last week that Hildebrand Gurlitt had confiscated 149 works from that museum as so-called “degenerate art,” particularly prints. According to news reports, she did not know whether the works were among those in the rediscovered collection, and thus cannot yet demand their restitution.
The city of Mannheim has already claimed a painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, “Melancholy Maid.”
At least 300 paintings reportedly are to be returned to Cornelius Gurlitt himself, particularly works by a relative.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
