The French National Assembly has unanimously adopted a law to return 15 works of art, including Gustav Klimt’s paintings and Marc Chagall’s paintings, to the beneficiaries of the Jewish family looted by the Nazis.
Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot welcomed the passage of a “historic” bill last Tuesday. This bill was observed by the owner of the work of art in the gallery.
Development requires final approval from the Senate to vote on this issue on February 15.
The Nazi plunder was “humanity (of these Jewish families), their memories, the denial of their memories,” Bashlot said.
Among the 15 works is Gustav Klimt’s “Rosiers Under the Trees”, which is kept in the Musée d’Orsay. This is the only work by an Austrian painter in the French National Collection.
Extensive research has revealed that it was owned by the Austrian Eleonor Restiasny, who was forced to sell in Vienna during Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938.
This painting was purchased by Stiasney’s ex-girlfriend Philip Hausler, who joined the Nazi Party and was able to hide his past after the war.
Stiasny died in 1942 with her husband and son. It is not clear if they were in the Polish ghetto in Izbica or in the Belzec extermination camp.
France, knowing nothing about its violent history, acquired the “Roses Bushes Under Trees” from a Swiss gallery in 1980 for the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
Beaucoupd’émotionces oiravecl’ad option à l’unanimité parl’@AssembleeNat d’un projet del oi is important. Il permettra la restitution aux ayants droit deleurs propriétaires d’œuvress poliées durantla Seconde Guerre mondialeen raison des persécutions antisémites. pic.twitter.com/cOeyXNV6X8
— Roselyne Bachelot (@R_Bachelot) January 25, 2022
Eleven drawings and waxwork in the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and Château de Compiegne, and Utrillo’s painting “Calfur Asan Noah” in the Utrillo-Varadon Museum are also part of the planned restoration.
A painting entitled “Le Pere” by Chagall, which was kept at the Pompidou Center and became part of the national collection in 1988, has also been added. It was recognized as the property of David Cender, a Polish Jewish musician and stringed instrument maker who emigrated to France in 1958.
For 13 of the 15 works, the beneficiaries were identified by the Spoliation Victims Compensation Committee (CIVS), which was founded in 1999.
Bashro has passed a bill allowing the return of works from public collections that were plundered around the world during World War II or acquired by “anti-Semites” during the French occupation of the Nazis. This is the first time it has been passed since the end of the war. ” -Anti-Semitic persecution. “
According to the Ministry of Culture, about 100,000 works of art were seized in France during the 1939-1945 war. Approximately 60,000 items were found in Germany and returned to France. Among them, 45,000 were returned to their owners between 1945 and 1950.
About 2,200 were selected and entrusted to the management of the National Museum. It was returned by a simple executive decision, with the remaining approximately 13,000 sold by the state in the early 1950s. In this way, many of the looted works were returned to the art market.
