Just 8 of ‘Nazi’ Hoarder’s Artworks Were Stolen From Jews, Spokesman Claims

Image by getty images

By JTA May 23, 2014

The former spokesperson of Cornelius Gurlitt said only eight of the late collector’s 1,400 paintings are likely to have been stolen from Jews.

The spokesman, Stephan Holzinger, made the claim Thursday when he published a statement to that effect by Gurlitt’s friend, Christoph Edel, from the friend’s Monday eulogy for Gurlitt, the DPA news agency reported. A German court appointed Edel as guardian of Gurlitt’s possessions after his death earlier this month.

But a spokesperson for the official government task force set up to research the provenance of all the works said 458 of them so far have been identified as having suspicious history; they could have been obtained through pressure on Jewish collectors.

Gurlitt, who died May 6 in Munich at the age of 81, was under investigation for tax evasion when the collection was seized by customs officials more than two years ago. The vast collection, which includes works by such greats as Picasso, Durer, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Beckmann and Matisse, first came to light last fall, when a Munich magazine broke the story.

Cornelius’ father, Hildebrand, was an art dealer on assignment to the Nazis. When he died in 1956, his son inherited the collection.

Cornelius Gurlitt left his entire collection to the Kunst Museum in Bern, Switzerland.

Reportedly, the museum has not yet decided if it will accept the gift, which comes with the responsibility to restore any works that were stolen or confiscated to their rightful heirs.

Meanwhile, a distant relative has announced plans to contest the will, ORF reported.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO