The Battle Continues For Nazi-Looted Art To Be Returned To Heirs Of Holocaust Victim

The struggle continues for the heirs of Austrian Jewish Holocaust victim Fritz Grünbaum, whose 449-piece art collection was systematically stolen by Adolf Hitler’s army in 1938.On April 5, a three-year-old lawsuit—filed by Raymond Dowd, a Westhampton Beach resident who is an attorney and partner at Dunnington, Bartholow and Miller in New York City—was put to rest by State Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos.

Citing the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, or HEAR Act—passed by the U.S. Congress in 2016 and designed to ease the statute of limitations for heirs seeking to recover looted artwork—Justice Ramos ruled that two Nazi-looted artworks by expressionist Egon Schiele must be returned to the heirs of Mr. Grünbaum, a well-known cabaret performer in Vienna who often criticized the Nazis. He was murdered in the Dachau concentration camp in 1941.

In 1999, an Austrian court declared Milos Vavra—a descendant of Mr. Grünbaum’s sister, Elise Zozuli—and Leon Fischer—the grandnephew of Mr. Grünbaum’s wife, Elisabeth Grünbaum—as heirs to the estate. Mr. Fischer, who died in 2013, left his share to heirs Timothy Reif and David Fraenkel.

The two disputed Schiele drawings—“Woman in a Black Pinafore” and “Woman Hiding Her Face”—were to be auctioned off in November at Christie’s Auction House in New York, within a few days of the 100th anniversary of Schiele’s death on October 31, 1918.

That is, until London-based art dealer Richard Nagy, who purchased the drawings in 2013, filed an appeal over the summer, arguing that he had good title to both.

Now, the heirs plan to auction the drawings in the spring, following the appeal, which is scheduled for December 13, according to Mr. Dowd.

However, Mr. Dowd and his clients have more battles to face.

In addition to arguing the appeal, Mr. Dowd is currently engaging in discussions with government officials from both Austria and Germany to have them return 63 additional claims, including Schiele’s 1911 piece “Dead City III,” to the Leon Fischer Trust for the Life and Work of Fritz Grünbaum.

Additionally, he said he hopes to highlight both countries’ blatant disregard of The Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. The principles, which were endorsed by 44 countries—including Austria and Germany—at the 1998 Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets, require signatories to publicize looted art, and to allow claimants the right to due process.

“And that’s just not present here,” Mr. Dowd said. “Instead, they have procedures where they determine whatever they want, they publish it, and ignore claimants.”

However, rather than litigate, he is calling upon the New York State Department of State to stir the pot and encourage the countries to “do the right thing.”

Under the Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump on May 9, the department is required to file yearly reports to Congress detailing the progress made by the Washington Principal endorsees in providing legal mechanisms for claimants and heirs.

“I’m sure Germany and Austria would like a good report card if the State Department is reporting to Congress,” Mr. Dowd said on Wednesday, November 28.

Up until this point, however, Austria and Germany’s progress, according to Mr. Dowd, is worse than nonexistent. In fact, it’s gone backward.

In 2015, Germany launched a publicly-available online database, lostart.de, owned by the German Cultural Heritage Center, to allow Holocaust victims and their descendants to report claims for free.

However, two years ago, when Mr. Grünbaum’s heirs laid claim to “Dead City III”—which is currently on display at the Leopold Museum in Vienna—as well as 62 other drawings, the claims were removed, Mr. Dowd said.

He added that the heritage center has continuously denied his request to restore the claims, noting that since the launch of the database, it has transformed into more of an online shopping tool for art dealers.

Freya Paschen, a spokeswoman for the German Center for Cultural Losses, did not return requests for comment.

“You can’t take this database that was created to assist Holocaust victims and just disappear things from it,” Mr. Dowd said. “There’s no trace of the claims to the works by the Leon Trust.”

And while he hopes to settle the dispute sans litigation, he admitted that he’s not genuinely optimistic.

“When you look at Ramos’s decision, it really decides it resoundingly in our favor,” Mr. Dowd said. “Let diplomacy have another shot before we have to start another expensive legal battle.”