The heirs of victims of the Nazis against the Federal Republic of Germany
ARTinvestment.RU   28 октября 2008

The descendants of the Nazis murdered the German art dealer's demand that Germany returned them to the great art collection, which includes paintings by El Greco, Rubens and Van Dyck

The descendants of a German art dealer Walter Vestfelda (Walter Westfeld), the Nazis murdered at Auschwitz, filed in the Court of Germany. If they win the case, the German government would have to give them a work of art from the collection Vestfelda, including paintings by El Greco (El Greco) and Camille Pissarro (Camille Pissarro).

art dealer's heirs, represented by his nephew, Fred Westfield (Fred Westfield), residing in the U.S. city of Nashville, Tennessee. In 1938, when he was 12 years old, he last saw his uncle Walter. The family of Fred moved to the United States and «Americanize» her name. Soon, Walter, a Jew by origin, was arrested on charges of currency violations. He was interrogated by the Gestapo and sent to prison, and then it was taken to Auschwitz. There, in 1943 Vestfeld died.

Usually, the heirs of victims of the Nazi regime require the return of selected works. But Westfield wants to make the return of the entire collection, valued at tens of millions of dollars. In the collection includes paintings by Peter Paul Rubens (Peter Paul Rubens), Arnold Beklina (Arnold Boecklin), Antonis van Dyck (Anthony van Dyck), and Frans Hals (Frans Hals).

«[art. - Ed. ] a few hundred, and we do not know where they are», - said lawyer Jeffrey Westfield Shenblyum (Jeffrey Schoenblum). According to him, find all the paintings will not be easy, because all they are in different museums and private collections around the world. Westfield sudyatsya with the German Government, because it must bear the moral and material responsibility for the tragedy of their family.

According to the Conference of the material claims of Jews to Germany during the 12-year rule of Adolf Hitler's Nazis robbed the Jews of about 650 thousand operations. Hitler appointed a special commission, whose mandate was hunting for pieces of Old Masters. All the looted treasures to be placed in the Führer Museum in Linz. Hitler's henchman Hermann Göring (Hermann Goering) also taken from the Jews collected the masterpieces.

representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany UC Amelie (Amelie Unz) said that the lawsuit Westfield is «at a very early stage of development». Now he is considered by judicial and government authorities. As the representative of the Ministry of Finance of Germany Torsten Albig (Torsten Albig), «the main issue - that the sovereign immunity of the State». Valid in the United States act on the immunity of sovereign states significantly restrict the authority of American courts, faced with such cases. Westfield also said that their case should be the exception, and Germany should be responsible to the maximum.

Three brothers, Walter Vestfelda moved to Tennessee. Now none of them are dead, and with the claim in state court to draw their children. Fred Westfield, will speak on behalf of all heirs, 81 years old. He is now retired but previously worked as a Professor of Economics at Vanderbilt University. In 2004, Westfield saw at the Boston Art Museum picture «Portrait of a man and a woman in an interior», written by a Dutch painter of XVII century Eglonom van der Neeru (Eglon van der Neer), provenans which was unclear. Westfield contacted the museum's scientific officer, who managed to find out the history of life work. It turned out that the entire collection of Walter Vestfelda, Uncle Fred, went under the hammer in 1939 at Cologne auction Lempertz.

Westfield complex situation that is not known who actually considered this to be the heir to the art-dealer. U Walter Vestfelda no children, and he had never been married. In 1956, his wife and heir was declared Shelen Emily (Emilie Schoelen), with whom he was going to marry before he was arrested.

Emily Shelen that was not Jewish, helped Vestfeldu to send works of art abroad. She also sat in prison for currency violations. According to historian Monica Tattskov (Monica Tatzkow), before Shelen and Vestfelda called in for questioning - under Nazi laws, «race» sex is a crime.

In jail Vestfeld wrote a testament to the plot sheets, which called Shelen his heir, and secretly sent him his bride. Emily Shelen died in 1990. In 1950 she received from the German government compensation for the lost works of art from the collection Vestfelda.

Monica Tattskov, which often help the heirs of the victims of the Nazi regime to regain the stolen works of art, wrote a book about missing assembly Vestfelda. It is published in this month. Tattskov known as the author of «Art, stolen Nazis», which is referred to as training tool for those who want to win back some work on restitution.

According to attorney Jeffrey Westfield Shenblyumu, heirs of Emily Shelen are unrelated to this case. Neshvillsky court finds that the only Westfield could be called legitimate heirs of the art-dealer.

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova

Sources: Bloomberg.com , artinvestment . ru