The museum is lucky that the painting is lovely and I am in good health.
If it was not stunning, and I was a dying man, I'd fly to Spain and spray paint a giant swastika over it.
F---g thieves. Even now.
Posted on 05/02/2019 12:05:17 PM PDT by BenLurkin
A 15-year court battle has seemingly come to an end after an L.A. federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Spanish museum which acquired a $30 million painting looted by the Nazis is the work’s rightful owner, and not the San Diego Jewish family of a woman who surrendered it 80 years ago to escape the Holocaust.
In his 34-page ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John F. Walter found no evidence the museum knew it was looted art when it took possession in 1993.
According to the lawsuit first filed in L.A. federal court in 2005, the Nazis confiscated the painting from Lilly Cassirer, whose Jewish family owned a prominent art gallery in Berlin in the 1930s. Lilly Cassirer was among the last of the family to flee ahead of the Holocaust. As she tried to leave Germany, a Nazi official forced her to surrender the painting in exchange for the exit visa she needed. Her sister, who remained, was later killed in a Nazi death camp.
The painting was purchased directly from Pissarro’s art dealer in 1900 by the father-in-law of Lilly Cassirer, who eventually inherited it and displayed it in her home for years. When she and her family fled the Holocaust in 1939, she traded it for passage out of the country.
For years the family thought it was lost, and the German government paid her $13,000 in reparations in 1958
(Excerpt) Read more at losangeles.cbslocal.com ...
That’s not a trade.
It’s extortion, made legal by the Nazis.
We obliterated each and every Nazi law after Germany surrendered.
Except extortion?
Hmmmmmmm....
The Spanish don’t have a very good record regarding Jews. They subjected them to torture, burning at the stake, and expulsion from the country wholesale. I guess they haven’t changed in screwing over Jews. That painting never legally belonged to the Nazis—it was taken under duress. A burglary at gunpoint.
Hmmm, this isn’t an easy case. Plenty of bribes were paid in that era to get the hell out of Nazi-controlled territory. It’s certainly unjust that bribes had to be paid in the first place, but if the briber received the benefit of the bargain (which apparently she did), should she be entitled to a refund simply because the bribe turned out to be extraordinarily valuable decades later?
“t does mean (if true) they won’t be prosecuted, but they have no claim to ownership. This is black letter law.”
Not in Spain. In the article, there is a specific Spanish law designed to screw over victims of the Shoa.
I would have been OK with the gang killing anyone who got in their way, including Spanish law enforcement.
See my post #46
ah i see- thanks for clearing that up- i agree-
She’s received compensation from Germany,
already. Is this a double dip?
This is a Shrub judge “ruling”, too. Who knew “Your painting or you go to the Death Camp” was a legit transaction ? What a joke.
I note that this case has been remanded to this judge TWICE. Obviously he doesn’t make good rulings and perhaps the appeals court will reverse it again. If he is looking to laws outside our own to base his decision, why use Spanish law? Why not International law? His whole decision is a mess.
One of the leading French Impressionist painters.
Govt people take care of each other. Even across the Atlantic.
The public servant stole it a bribe to get him to do his job.
So what? The museum knows now. The art was stolen. It should be returned to the family from whom it was stolen. The museum's grievance is with whomever they bought it from, and they should seek reimbursement from them.
Is this judge in his right mind?
$13,000 in 1958 would be be about 15 million if invested in a decent mutual fund, in today dollars.
Just say’n.
Obviously seized under duress!
It belongs to the family--not the museum.
But they accepted $13,000 reparations 30 years ago. The fact that it’s worth more now, really doesn’t enter into it.
That’s good news. See, some years ago I bought a lovely collection of watches with a name engraved on them...John F. Walter...but since I didn’t know they were stolen I won’t have to give them back.
Spain hosted Nazi submarines during WWII. Germany gives Spain a painting, thanks for helping out. Spain says your welcome.
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