In a deeply researched opinion that it appears could embolden legal efforts by Jewish heirs to reclaim Nazi-stolen art worldwide, a state appeals court Tuesday ruled that two highly valued early 20th century paintings looted by the Nazis belong to the heirs of the Austrian Jewish entertainer who first collected them.
NY Appeals Court Explains Why Nazi-Stolen Paintings Belong With Jewish Collector's Heirs _ New York Law JournalCategory: News about the Case
Five judges and 2 attorneys / Fünf Richter und 2 Anwälte
This film sequence shows the oral hearing on 13 December 2018 at the Court of Appeal in the proceedings “Heirs of Fritz Grünbaum vs. art dealer Richard Nagy”.
Diese Filmsequenz zeigt die mündliche Anhörung vom 13. Dezember 2018 am Appelatilonsgerichtshof im Verfahren „Erben von Fritz Grünbaum gegen Kunsthändler Richard Nagy“
Judge Orders Nazi-Looted Paintings to Be Sent to Auction House
Judge Ramos has ordered to turn over the two paintings looted by Nazis from Fritz Grünbaum to Christie´s Auction house and upbraided the dealer Richard Nagy for infringing on the property rights of the heirs.
309 - Notice of Entry - SJDescendants of Holocaust victim win monumental Nazi-looted art case
Two Schiele paintings will be returned to the heirs of Fritz Grunbaum, a holocaust victim and broadway star of his time
NEW YORK, NY – Today, in a landmark decision by Justice Charles E. Ramos, the heirs of Holocaust victim Fritz Grunbaum were awarded title to two Nazi-looted artworks, Woman in a Black Pinafore and Woman Hiding her Face, by the artist Egon Schiele. The case, Reif vs. Nagy, has been winding its way through the courts since November 2015 when attorney Raymond Dowd requested the artworks be returned to Grunbaum’s heirs, including Timothy Reif, after they were discovered in Mr. Nagy’s booth at the Salon Art + Design Show at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City.
“This is an important victory in what is probably the most important art case of the late 20th century,” said Attorney Raymond Dowd, partner at Dunnington, Bartholow, & Miller LLP. “It is a victory for Holocaust victims, their families, and all those who fought and died to undo the evils of Nazism. This decision brought us a step closer to recovering all of the culture that was stolen during the largest mass-theft in history which, until now, has been overshadowed by history’s largest mass-murder.”
Fritz Grünbaum, an Austrian-Jewish songwriter, director, actor, and master of ceremonies who openly mocked Hitler, performed musicals and plays for his fellow prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp until 1941, when he died penniless in captivity. His extensive collection, totaling 450 pieces, 80 of which were Schiele artworks, was looted in its entirety by Nazi agents in 1938. The two Schiele paintings in question have been housed in a fine art storage facility in Queens, NY since court proceedings began in 2015.
“Today, my family has regained a part of its history that was stolen by the Nazi Regime. We are overjoyed and thankful that Justice Ramos has helped us protect the legacy of Fritz Grunbaum, who was a performer of exceptional courage and talent, and realized the moral and legal importance of returning Nazi-looted art to its rightful heirs,” said Timothy Reif, executor and heir to the Grunbaum estate. “These paintings help us remember and honor the lives of those we love and help us preserve Jewish culture that the Nazi’s tried so hard to destroy.”
Despite defendant Richard Nagy’s best efforts to argue that the case fell outside of the statute of limitations that one can claim stolen art, and that the HEAR Act did not apply to this case, Judge Ramos adamantly disagreed. Justice Ramos explains in the decision, “Although defendants argue that the HEAR Act is inapplicable, this argument is absurd, as the act is intended to apply to cases precisely like this one, where Nazi-looted art is at issue. Since plaintiffs discovered the Artworks in November of 2015, their action is timely under the HEAR Act.”
Grunbaum’s art collection grabbed international headlines in 1998 when New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau seized Egon Schiele’s Dead City from New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The Morgenthau seizure made Grunbaum’s estate a cause celebre leading to changes in the way Austria and other European countries process claims involving art looted from Holocaust victims. Justice Ramos’ decision has ended a controversy that has raged since the 1998 Morgenthau seizure and provided justice for Holocaust victims and their heirs.
Full decision attached.
161799_2015_Timothy_Reif_et_al_v_Richard_Nagy_et_al_DECISION___ORDER_ON_288
Press Clipping: Legal battle over Schiele works owned by Jewish entertainer who died in Dachau
His heirs’ attempts to recover them will be framed by President Obama’s Holocaust Act
6 April 2017
|A dispute in New York over two watercolours by Egon Schiele will revisit the tragic life of their owner in the 1930s, Fritz Grünbaum, a popular Jewish entertainer in Vienna who died a Nazi prisoner in Dachau.
Some also see the case as an early assessment of the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act, which regularised a federal statute of limitations of six years, beginning with the discovery of an object, during which claims can be made for the recovery of Nazi loot in the US. The statute affirms a US interest in the restitution of art stolen during the Nazi era.
Brief Amicus Curiae
Brief Amicus Curiae on Behalf of The American Jewish Committee, Omer Bartov, Michael Bazyler, Haim Beliak, Michael Berenbaum, Donald Burris, Judy Chicago, Richard Falk, Hector Feliciano, Eugene Fisher, Irving Greenberg, Peter Hayes, Douglas and Marjorie Kinsey, Douglas Kmiec, Marcia Sachs Littell, Hubert Locke, Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Bruce Pauley, John Pawlikowski, Carol Rittner, John Roth, Randol Schoenberg, William Shulman, Stephen Smith, Alan Steinweis, Melvyn Weiss, Donald Woodman, and Jonathan Zatlin, in Support of Plaintiffs-Respondents.
Full Amicus BriefOn December 16, 2016, President Obama signed into law the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016 (the “HEAR Act”), which passed both the House and Senate unanimously. Amici have particular interests implicated by the HEAR Act, which are set forth in Appendix A. None of the Amici has any financial or economic interest in the outcome of this appeal.
Amici underscore one specific way in which Nazis victimized Jews: robbery on a grand scale. The grand larceny should not be overlooked merely because mass murder was the foulest crime perpetrated by the Nazi conspirators……In Part I of the brief, we suggest that the HEAR Act does exactly what the Washington Principles and the Terezín Declaration failed to accomplish: provide binding legal language enabling fair and just resolution of conflicts over Recovery of Holocaust Expropriated Art. In Part II, we explain how the HEAR Act intersects with various technical defenses in this case focused on two pieces of art that were indisputably the property of Fritz Grunbaum.
Press Clipping: A Suit Over Schiele Drawings Invokes New Law on Nazi-Looted Art
The New York Times
A Suit Over Schiele Drawings Invokes New Law on Nazi-Looted Art
By WILLIAM D. COHAN FEB. 27, 2017
Egon Schiele’s “Woman Hiding Her Face” (1912) is one of two drawings at issue in a suit brought by heirs of the collector Fritz Grunbaum.
When the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act was adopted unanimously by Congress in December, it was widely praised as a necessary tool to help the heirs of Holocaust victims recover art stolen from their families during World War II.
Now the efficacy of the HEAR Act, as it is known, may get an early test in New York State Court, where the heirs of Fritz Grunbaum, an Austrian Jewish entertainer, are citing it in efforts to claim two valuable colorful drawings by Egon Schiele.
Read the full article in the New York Times here
New Article @ Princeton Alumni Weekly
A Small Victory in Pursuit of Looted Art
By Louis Jacobson ’92
Published in the May 13, 2015, issue
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20140512 Princeton Alumni Weekly_ A Small Victory in Pursuit of Looted Art
Erwiderung zur Presseaussendung der Sammlung Leopold
Am 01.11. erschien eine Presseaussendung des Leopold Museum:
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung (ver)wehrt sich gegen Raubkunst-Vorwürfe
Darin behauptet das Museum, die Restitutionsforschung des BMUKK hätte eindeutig festgestellt, das die Sammlung Grünbaum nicht als Raubkunst zu bezeichnen sei.
Dies ist die Sicht des Leopold Museums, doch was sagen andere Stellen dazu? Read more
New York Times: Dispute Over Nazi Victim´s Art
The similarities between two art works being auctioned next month by Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York are striking. Both were created by the Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele. And both once belonged to FritzGrünbaum, a Viennese cabaret performer whose large art collection wasinventoried by Nazi agents after he was sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where he died.But there is also a notable difference in the way the houses are handlingthe sales. Read more