In the southern German state of Bavaria, state painting collections and the National Museum have returned art looted by the Nazis to its rightful owners.
A painting by Hans Wertinger and two Nuremberg sculptures from the 16th century went to the heirs of the Berlin banker and entrepreneur Jakob Goldschmidt (1882-1955), the Pinakothek and the National Museum in Munich announced on Wednesday.
According to information, the painting went from former National Socialist art collections to the state painting collections in 1953. The sculptures were acquired by the National Museum in the same year in exchange for a 14th century Pietà from a Swiss arms manufacturer.
The Jewish banker Goldschmidt, who was considered the ‘center of the financial world’ in the Weimar Republic according to the state painting collections, had collected art on a large scale since the First World War and used it to furnish his country house in Potsdam and his city villa in Berlin .
After the National Socialists held him partly responsible for the banking crisis as a result of the global economic crisis, Goldschmidt had to emigrate to Switzerland in April 1933, and in 1936 he fled from there to New York. He was only able to save parts of his art collection abroad. The rest of the collection remained in Germany and was auctioned at two auctions there in 1936 and 1938.
The painting by Hans Wertinger, which has since been returned, went to Julius Streicher, Gauleiter for Middle Franconia. American troops found it – along with other works of art – in the house of Streicher’s brother Max in Deggendorf and brought it to the central collection point in Munich in October 1946. The sculptures arrived at the Swiss manufacturer in different phases. (rbu/sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
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