Posted on 04/08/2009 10:27:27 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Two of the three paintings, visible to guests and millions of tourists at Hearst Castle since 1935, will be returned Friday to the heirs of the rightful owners, both of whom died during the war, one in the death camp at Auschwitz.
The shocking discovery, made after a lawyer for the heirs filed a claim with the California State Parks, is yet another reminder of the scope of Jewish persecution during World War II.
"Never in a million years did I think anything like this would cross my desk," said Brad Torgan, the former general counsel for the state parks who led the investigation. "It is one of the most interesting things I've ever worked on and, given the outcome, one of the most rewarding things I've worked on at state parks."
Two paintings - "Portrait of Alvise Vendramin," attributed to Jacopo Tintoretto, and a painting known as "Portrait of a Bearded Gentleman," credited to Giovanni Cariani - will be returned Friday to Peter Bloch of Boynton Beach, Fla., and Inge Blackshear of Buenos Aires.
The handover will be part of an 11 a.m. ceremony at Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park in Sacramento, honoring Bloch and Blackshear's grandparents, Jakob and Rosa Oppenheimer, who owned a Berlin art gallery where the paintings were displayed in the 1930s.
The other painting - "Venus and Cupid," by Paris Bordone - will remain at Hearst Castle and, along with photographic reproductions of the other pieces, be used in an exhibit in which docents will explain how the Nazis confiscated Jewish possessions.
"It brings to your mind a sad time in world history," said Hoyt Fields, museum director at Hearst Castle. "We can't let it go away. We need to remember."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Which is actually a reasonable question. There were a great many historical injustices and confiscations of property during the 20th century. If one is going to pick out one or more as being more worthy of restitution than others, one should at least be willing to explain why the distinction is justified.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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So, because the others are not in our power to correct, we should avoid fixing those that are within our power?
These are stolen property, chattle.
The ownership is not disputed. Simple confiscation and theft was involved, not muddy political issues of conquest or the like.
Another part is that the owners, galleries, and Israel, ftm, have kept the spotlight on this situation in for decades - iow, they asked for the return of the items.
Moral relativism doesn't have to enter the discussion at all.
Which is actually a reasonable question. There were a great many historical injustices and confiscations of property during the 20th century. If one is going to pick out one or more as being more worthy of restitution than others, one should at least be willing to explain why the distinction is justified.
Maybe because when this campaign first started, the survivors were still around to file the lawsuits?
Ping!!!
And stay at the Madonna Inn. It's pretty impressive too!
ML/NJ
Before my grandparents fled Germany, they were unable to draw money from the banks (the banks stamped a “J” on the account books, and Jews could only draw limited funds out) and our family business was closed one day for unnamed “violations” -— basic socialization, and re-opened the next day by other socialist flunkies.
The National Socialists utilized the same powers of regulation that Obama has seized in this nation.
It’s a scary time.
ping!!!
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