GERMAN VERSION BELOW

The Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art is pleased to announce the launch of a deck of playing cards featuring the WWII MOST WANTED ART™ still missing since the end of World War II. Determined to continue the mission of the Monuments Men and Women, the scholar-soldiers who, during World War II, protected and safeguarded civilization’s most important artistic cultural treasures, the Foundation is now engaging the public to help find missing objects and return them to their rightful owners.

Customized decks of playing cards have a rich history in the United States military, having been used during the Civil War, World War II, and most recently the Iraq War, to bring visibility to a particular mission. This deck follows that tradition to bring visibility to some of the most important works of art that went missing during World War II whose whereabouts are currently unknown. “The Monuments Men Foundation has found a new and creative approach to engage the general public in the search for works of art and cultural treasures missing since World War II,” said Col. A. Scott DeJesse Cultural Heritage Preservation Officer, 38G / 6V Heritage and Preservation branch, U.S. Army. “We are proud of our relationship with the Foundation and look forward to integrating this rich history with our future efforts to protect cultural heritage.”

The Foundation is offering a cash reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the recovery of each cultural object included in the WWII MOST WANTED ART™ deck of playing cards. Terms and conditions for the reward are fully outlined on the Foundation’s website at monumentsmenfoundation.org/wwii-most-wanted.

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Sponsored by the Jewish Lawyers Guild, the Justice Brandies Law Society of Westchester County and the Brandeis Society of Queens.

In From Murder To Museums: Current Controversies Over Nazi-Looted Art, the Hon. Timothy Reif (U.S. Court of International Trade) recounts the exceptional talent, courage and kindness of his “great-uncle” Fritz Grünbaum — among the most notable movie makers and entertainers of the 1920s and 1930s — his  murder in the Dachau Concentration Camp and the theft of Grünbaum’s art collection, including 81 works by the artist Egon Schiele.  In 1998, Reif persuaded then-District Attorney Robert Morgenthau to seize Egon Schiele’s Dead City III at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Morgenthau’s seizure garnered international headlines and led to the 1998 Washington Conference Principles which today guide restitution efforts in over 40 countries.

Dunnington partner Sam Blaustein describes the legal and procedural aspects of a seizure authorized in Supreme Court, New York County, of two stolen Egon Schiele paintings spotted at the Park Avenue Armory’s Salon+Art Show in November 2015.

Dunnington partner Ray Dowd then reviews current case law, the impact of the 2016 HEAR Act on New York’s statute of limitations, obstacles facing legal practitioners in pursuing restitution claims, and the outlook for the future of restitution claims.

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Gesponsert durch Jewish Lawyers Guild, der Justice Brandies Law Society of Westchester County und der Brandeis Society of Queens gesponsert wurde.

In From Murder To Museums: Current Controversies Over Nazi-Looted Art (Aktuelle Kontroversen um Nazi-Raubkunst) erzählt Hon. Timothy Reif (U.S. Court of International Trade) von der außergewöhnlichen Begabung, dem Mut und der Freundlichkeit seines “Großonkels” Fritz Grünbaum – einem der bedeutendsten Filmemacher und Entertainer der 1920er und 1930er Jahre -, seiner Ermordung im Konzentrationslager Dachau und dem Diebstahl von Grünbaums Kunstsammlung, darunter 81 Werke des Künstlers Egon Schiele.  Im Jahr 1998 überzeugte Reif den damaligen Staatsanwalt Robert Morgenthau, Egon Schieles “Tote Stadt III” im Museum of Modern Art in New York City zu beschlagnahmen. Morgenthaus Beschlagnahmung sorgte für internationale Schlagzeilen und führte zu den Grundsätzen der Washingtoner Konferenz von 1998, die heute in über 40 Ländern als Richtschnur für Restitutionsbemühungen dienen.

Sam Blaustein, Partner bei Dunnington, beschreibt die rechtlichen und verfahrenstechnischen Aspekte der Beschlagnahmung zweier gestohlener Egon-Schiele-Gemälde, die im November 2015 bei der Salon+Art Show in der Park Avenue Armory entdeckt wurden, vor dem Supreme Court, New York County.

Ray Dowd, Partner bei Dunnington, gibt anschließend einen Überblick über die aktuelle Rechtsprechung, die Auswirkungen des HEAR Act von 2016 auf die Verjährungsfristen in New York, die Hindernisse, mit denen Juristen bei der Verfolgung von Restitutionsansprüchen konfrontiert sind, und die Zukunftsaussichten für Restitutionsansprüche.

Vor 80 Jahren verstarb Fritz Grünbaum im Konzentrationslager Dachau.

80 years ago Fritz Grünbaum died in the concentration camp Dachau.

(Translation of this article is enclosed in the pdf)

Kurier vom 7. Jän. 2021 zum 80.Todestag von Fritz Grünbaum

The question of whether there is looted art in the Leopold Museum Vienna has lost none of its topicality. By next year’s 20th anniversary of the museum, not even 90% of the collection, some 3,760 works of art, willl have been researched.

The ongoing need for provenance research is part of the government’s funding programme despite the museum being a special case as it is not state-owned but a private foundation. It is however state-funded and since 2008 the government has financed 1.5 research positions.The dossiers on 312 works of art compiled by the two researchers Sonja Niederacher and Michael Wladika were submitted to an independent commission, but in the majority of cases the commission deemed that the status of the works could “not be assessed according to the current state of knowledge”.

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