Nazi Looted Art on German TV Show

Fellow appraiser Kathi Jablonsky sent me an interesting article from The Local, a German news site in English. The article reports on a painting which was shown on a German TV Roadshow type of program called Art and Junk in November of 2008 . The article states the 17th century painting by by Flemish artist Frans Francken the Younger, entitled “The Sermon on the Mount (Paul in Lystra),” and is worth an estimated €100,000 (see image). A viewer saw the program and thought it might have been a painting stolen by the Nazi's during World War II. They German police are still looking for the rightful owners of the painting and depending on the outcome of the investigation, the current owners could also be charged with having stolen property.

The report states

“An art expert saw the show, suspected it might be stolen and started doing research,” spokesperson for the Bavarian office of criminal investigation Ludwig Waldinger told The Local on Thursday.

Six months later, in April 2009, he called Munich police to report he believed the painting had likely been stolen from a Jewish family by the Nazis.

Criminal investigators and state prosecutors requested that public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reveal the person who submitted the 33 by 79.5-centimetre painting to the antiques show, but they refused.

“They asserted their journalistic right not to reveal their sources – something they are legally allowed to do,” Waldinger told The Local.

Police have traced the painting back to a Jewish family, who bought the painting from a Dresden gallery. When the Nazis ordered paintings to be collected for a new art museum in Adolf Hitler’s hometown of Linz, Austria, the painting was purchased from the family.

“To say they ‘bought’ the painting was actually false,” Waldinger said. The Nazis essentially stole paintings from Jewish families but gave them a symbolic payment and a receipt to give it an official character.”

To read the full article, click HERE.