US authorities return seven works of art stolen by Nazis

The $US9m worth of paintings by Egon Schiele was owned by Fritz Grunbaum, an Austrian Jewish cabaret performer killed in the Holocaust.

Egon Schiele’s Russian War Prisoner, Portrait of a Man and Girl With Black Hair. Picture: AFP

New York authorities announced on Wednesday the return of seven works of art worth more than $US9m ($14m) stolen by the Nazi regime to the family of Fritz Grunbaum, an Austrian Jewish cabaret performer killed in the Holocaust.

The drawings, all from Austrian artist Egon Schiele, were “voluntarily surrendered by the holding institutions and estates”, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, “after they were presented with evidence that they were stolen by the Nazis,” the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said.

The move is a victory for Grunbaum’s heirs, who have been fighting for its return for years.

Grunbaum died at the Dachau concentration camp in 1941.

“I hope this moment can serve as a reminder that despite the horrific death and destruction caused by the Nazis, it is never too late to recover some of what we lost (and) honour the victims,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.

Timothy Reif, a judge and one of Grunbaum’s relatives, thanked authorities for having “succeeded in solving crimes perpetrated over 80 years ago”.

The seven drawings were seized by the district attorney’s Antiquities Tracking Unit from the Museum of Modern Art, the Ronald Lauder Collection, the Morgan Library, the Santa Bar­bara Museum of Art and the Vally Sabarsky Trust in Manhattan.

The district attorney’s office estimated their total value at more than $US9m.

AFP