Cornelius
Gurlitt, the 81 year old reclusive legal owner of the fabulous Nazi
era hoard of paintings discovered in a Munich apartment, has suddenly
resurfaced in limelight, claiming back his trove of paintings
confiscated last year by customs authorities in Germany.
In an
earlier blogpost, 'A
different kind of treasure trove,'
I had described how German customs authorities, with their suspicions
aroused because of frequent travels by Cornelius between Germany and
Switzerland, had finally landed on Cornelius's modest apartment in
Munich and had found a treasure trove of 1400 long-lost works by the
past masters like Picasso, Matisse and Chagall.
The
spectacular “Gurlitt find” was inherited by Cornelius from his
father Hildebrand Gurlitt, a Nazi era German connoisseur of art of
Jewish origin. Hildebrandt was employed as a curator in a museum
during pre-WWII days, when Nazi's were rising up in Germany. He lost
his job when Nazi's decided to deride Germany’s most avant-garde
art as “degenerate.” He somehow managed to convince Joseph
Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda boss about his credentials and
was chosen to sell much of the art that the Nazis confiscated. In the
course of time he managed to acquire ‘hundreds and hundreds’ of
artworks at knock-down prices on canvasses, lithographs and prints
painted by Germany's famous artists of the times like Max Beckmann,
Otto Dix, Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Marc Chagall.
Surprisingly almost all the pieces of art that Hildebrandt Gurlitt
could lay his hands on had just disappeared as he never sold any of
these.
Because
of his Jewish roots and anti Nazi stand, after the war was over,
allies always considered Mr Hildebrandt Gurlitt as a victim and not
not a persecutor and he was never charged with forcing and cheating
Jews to sell out their collections. The Americans, briefly detained
him for questioning to find out whether he can lead them to the
looted art so that it can be recovered. However Mr. Gurlitt
maintained that all his artworks kept at the family home in Kaitzer
Strasse. had been incinerated in the fire-bombing of Dresden in
February 1945. The Senior Gurlitt died in a car crash in 1956 and the
treasure, which he had hidden, remained a secret forever.
Lawyers
for Gurlitt have now filed a complaint against a 2011 order by a
southern German court to search his apartment and seize the hoard of
priceless paintings and drawings. Gurlitt’s legal team also
launched the website www.gurlitt.info this week to present the case
of this supposed to be shy collector, who has been portrayed in the
media as a recluse out of touch with the modern world.
Gurlitt
says: “So much has happened in the past weeks and months and is
still happening. I only wanted to live in peace and quiet with my
pictures.” The European art world was stunned again last week to
learn that his collection is larger than what has been found in his
Munich flat. He has another 60 odd works of art, including by Monet
and Renoir, that were kept at his Salzburg property in Austria. His
legal team has now shifted these works to safe keeping. Gurlitt’s
45-page legal petition aims for the seizure order on the Munich trove
to be lifted and the works returned.
Gurlitt's
lawyers say that The seizure by customs was based on suspected tax
fraud, which is not justified and that taking away the whole
collection was disproportionate. In criminal proceedings, legal and
moral aspects must be strictly separated and a criminal procedure
must not be used for settling restitution claims.
Whatever
may be the legal position, the fact remains that Cornelius's father
had acquired most of the paintings at a ridiculously low prices,
because the Nazi regime had declared this art as degenerative art and
had tasked him to purchase them by any means. This makes the artworks
definitely a looted art. Cornelius might have inherited these works
and had no hand in their procurement. However he bears a strong moral
responsibility towards returning the paintings to their rightful
owners. His lawyers claim that he is negotiating with 6 such
claimants, but that is just pittance, when the total number of
paintings is considered.
Cornelius
must hand over his paintings to an appropriate authority, who should
ensure that heirs of original owners are given back the paintings and
in cases where original owners can not be traced, such works should
be displayed at an appropriate art museum. Cornelius has no moral
right to own these works of art, procured by his father from innocent
Germans,( many of whom are likely to be Jews,) under blackmail and
pressure from Nazi looters.
22
February 2014
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