Since the end of the Second World War has been more than sixty years, but the wounds that it caused to humanity, does not heal. In reading about the Holocaust, people of all generations are asking: how can ordinary people like, «are the same as we», with the intoxication torment, betray, humiliate and destroy itself like? .. The victims of horrendous crimes the Nazis were millions of people. Hitlerites sought not only to physically destroy the Jews (as well as representatives of many other nationalities), but also pridushit «Jewish-Bolshevik» culture in the bud by destroying its main treasures. Thus, the Führer hated modernism was declared «degenerative art» - priceless paintings were burned Vasily Kandinsky , Paul Klee (Paul Klee), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner) and other artists. But far from being Nazis destroyed everything: the old masters were sent to collection Goring or Führer Museum in Linz, and the work of other artists, such as some modernists, exchanged for more appropriate «German spirit» works ... Criminals selected works of art from their «enemies», in particular from wealthy Jewish families. Researchers argue that the fascists stole 20 percent (one fifth of!) Works of art in Europe ... Since the war began a large-scale restitution, which continues to this day. At a time when art prices reach sky-high heights, more and more people are requiring them to return the paintings, sculptures and graphic works, once selected by the Nazis from their ancestors.

Subject restitution - is one of the most discussed. Not to say, when the most expensive in the world of painting - a portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer Gustav Klimt brush (Gustav Klimt) - the product, return of owners as a result of restitution! In 2006, Maria Altmann (Maria Altmann), 90-year-old niece of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer (Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer), which the Nazis seized the canvas in 1938, otsudila it from Austria and has sold over 135 million U.S. billionaire Ronald Lauder (Ronald Lauder ). Lauder, who is one of the ten major works of art collectors in the world , spent huge sums on the search for works of art seized by the fascists. In the past 20 years, restitution has gained an unprecedented scale: by the end of the Cold War researchers have access to archives in Eastern Europe, and it turned out that many works, a long time are destroyed, in fact «alive and healthy» and waiting to be found ...

Many fear that mass restitution to empty museums. In the same 2006 German museum group «bridge» (Die Brücke) has lost one of the major masterpieces: one of the «street scenes» Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was returned to the descendants of the owners and sold at auction Christie's for 38.1 million dollars. Recently in Germany was created Agency, which studies provenans works in public collections .

Now the Jewish Museum Berlin, an exhibition entitled Raub und Restitution ( «Robbery and return»). All the exhibits before the war belonged to Jewish collectors, were then selected from them Nazis, and then returned to the owners or their heirs. On display are not only stolen paintings (in particular, the works of German expressionists), but also furniture, antique musical instruments, porcelain figurines, silver and personal photos ... You can see the various papers, telling of the abduction of the Nazis and the fate of their owners. The exhibition also tells of those who profit from stolen art: not only of the Nazi organizations, but also, for example, light-fingered art dealers and museums, with the tacit approval of whom committed crimes. Exhibition space is designed as a warehouse: it is issued, the organizers of the exhibition using photographs of stores, where in 1945 the Allies found a huge amount of stolen masterpieces fascists.

Curator Berts Inca (Inka Bertz) said that the idea of them came during a debate on the restitution of Kirchner painting. «Unfortunately, the talk [of restitution. - Ed. ] bought some anti-Semitic overtones, - said Raphael Gross (Raphael Gross), director of the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt, which then will travel exhibition. - Some people understand this as a good resistance to the German museums and bad Jews materialists ».

Another news regarding restitution: the recently released on DVD a documentary film entitled The Rape of Europa ( «Abduction of Europe»), which tells of the Nazi confiscation of art works. Last year, the film entered the top five most successful documentaries in the United States. It tells not only about the products, their abduction and subsequent restitution of the fascists, but also about people who, despite the danger, did everything to save masterpieces. The film refers, in particular, the so-called Monuments Men - American art critic and curator, who during the war, went to Europe in order to protect cultural monuments and the Nazis to find the hidden works of art. The film can be found in online stores Netflix, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Borders & Blockbuster, as well as the site Menemsha Films .

Read more about how the Nazis plundered Europe, you can read here .

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova

Sources: juedisches-museum-berlin.de , spiegel.de , artknowledgenews.com , artinvestment.ru