The process of study and return of the works of art of the Nazi plunder, which was launched after the discovery of the Gurlitt collection, advances in all the German Bundesländer less in one. Several lawyers had been showing their dissatisfaction with … Atasco of the processes located in Bavaria and Filtered internal documents To the newspaper ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’ suggest indifference from cultural authorities and intentional delays. The general director of Bavaria’s painting collections, Bernhard Maaz, is in the center of the scandal.
Among the documents published so far is a memorandum of several pages of the two attached to the general director, written in 2022 and that apparently was never sent. In a list of paintings from state paint collections, in which 200 works They were marked in red (a designation that represents the looted art In the usual practice of the Museumplus tool throughout the country) it has only been considered as an “indication of suspicion” in Bavaria, so the return protocols have not been activated.
Sources from the Ministry of Culture of Berlin confirm that the red brand means “the knowledge and conviction of those responsible for being clearly looted art” and that “a necessary one is necessary Immediate restitution».
The Regional Minister of Culture, Markus Blume, has offered a poor explanation before the Regional Parliament, which has dealt with the matter, and has clung to the fact that, according to the German Foundation of Lost Art, the classification of Munich is allowed. This would exonerate some of the works of the relevant exam, but there is still a greater need for clarification for another 97.
«I am not a researcher of origin. In all my ministry there is only one lady that can be called that, ”he tried to excuse himself due to the lack of qualified personnel and referring with outdated courtesy to Andrea Bambi, the head of the Department of Investigation of Provenances of the State Painting collections, which has two employees, one of whom works part -time. Two and a half people are responsible for processing 5,300 cases Suspicious, he denounced ‘Süeddeutsche’ in a report titled ‘Red Alert’.
The controversy has reopened in Germany the debate on whether museums, interested parties, those responsible for the investigation and Decision on restitutions. This is the case of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen (state collection of paintings of Bavaria), which depends solely on public officials subordinated to the direction of museums.
Lack of interest
In cases of restitution, the Director General will present recommendations to the Minister, solely responsible. And the process history in Bavaria shows an obvious lack of interest: from a so -called “initial control”, five years ago, of a total of 6,000 works in question, Just one sixth Part has been examined more detail and also a prioritization has been omitted, so that, instead of addressing the clearest cases, the scarce resources have been dedicated to more problematic ones. Lawyers and heirs complain in addition to the questioned works They hide or they go to secondary exhibitions, to avoid their exposure and thus reduce public and journalistic interest.
Bavaria’s state painting collection identified more than 1,200 suspicious works in 2022, whose origin must be reviewed to determine if they were looted. One of the most notable cases is the picture ‘Madame Soler’ by Pablo Picasso, who is still in the Munich Modern Art Pinacoteca, despite the demands of the heirs of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, a German Jewish banker who owns the work before World War II, who claims that it was sold under coercion during the Nazi regime. Bavaria’s state painting collections resist delivering it and argue that they acquired the work legitimately in 1964.
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