Where in the article is there a reference to “the point of a gun”? They applied for an exit visa. The person in charge of handing out exit visas asked for the painting in exchange for the visa. He got the painting. They got the exit Visa. Think Casablanca.
This was 1939. The Germans had not yet begun the rounding up of Jews to send to concentration camps. A lot of Jews saw it coming and were willing to pay all kinds of bribes to get out. Within a year the Nazis would start the rounding up Jews, but in 1939 nobody was pointing a gun at them.
They didn’t have the cash to pay the bribe. They had a valuable piece of art. Bribing a Nazi official was just as illegal as the official taking a bribe. Most likely the Nazi official, if he had been caught taking bribes from Jews, would have met the same fate that awaited the Jews who couldn’t afford to bribe him.
The bottom line is that the judge found that Spain was an innocent buyer. The facts of the case suggest that even though it was given as a bribe, it was not stolen. It was traded.
nobody was pointing a gun at Jews in 1939? Transactions were all above-board? The first concentration camp, Dachau, opened in 1933. Fear history lest it become future.
“In 1933, new German laws forced Jews out of their civil service jobs, university and law court positions, and other areas of public life. In April 1933, laws proclaimed at Nuremberg made Jews second-class citizens. These Nuremberg Laws defined Jews, not by their religion or by how they wanted to identify themselves, but by the religious affiliation of their grandparents. Between 1937 and 1939, new anti-Jewish regulations segregated Jews further and made daily life very difficult for them. Jews could not attend public schools; go to theaters, cinema, or vacation resorts; or reside or even walk in certain sections of German cities.
Also between 1937 and 1939, Jews increasingly were forced from Germany’s economic life. The Nazis either seized Jewish businesses and properties outright or forced Jews to sell them at bargain prices. In November 1938, the Nazis organized a riot (pogrom), known as Kristallnacht (the “Night of Broken Glass”). This attack against German and Austrian Jews included the physical destruction of synagogues and Jewish-owned stores, the arrest of Jewish men, the vandalization of homes, and the murder of individuals.”
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/1933-1939-early-stages-of-persecution/