Seven Schiele Portraits Stolen by Nazis Returned to Heirs of Jewish Holocaust Victim in New York
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg at the ceremony marking the return of paintings by artist Egon Schiele stolen by the Nazis. Photo: Screenshot
Seven portraits by Austrian Expressionist artist Egon Schiele that were stolen by the Nazis during World War II have been returned to the heirs of an Austrian-Jewish cabaret performer who owned the pieces before he was murdered in the Holocaust.
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, which investigated the case with Ivan Arvelo — a special agent in charge of US Department of Homeland Security investigations in New York — hosted the ceremony on Wednesday to return the watercolor and pencil drawings to the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, who was killed in the Dachau concentration camp in January 1941.
At the event, Bragg called the return of the artworks to Grünbaum’s family a “historic and groundbreaking” occasion.
“In the more than 70 years since those pieces were ripped away from their rightful owners, they passed literally around the globe,” he said. “Now, they’re returning to where they belong — back to his family — where they always should have been.”
Bragg added in a released statement that he hoped the return of the artwork “can serve as a reminder that despite the horrific death and destruction caused by the Nazis, it is never too late to recover some of what we lost, honor the victims, and reflect on how their families are still impacted to this day.”
One of Grünbaum’s heirs, Timothy Reif — a judge on the United States Court of International Trade who was at Wednesday’s event — praised law enforcement for achieving a “measure of justice” for Holocaust victims.
Grünbaum was a Jewish cabaret performer, writer, director, comedian, and film and radio star in Austria who owned an art collection of over 100 pieces, including more than 80 Schiele drawings. He was arrested by the Nazis in 1938 after their invasion of Austria and sent to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. While a prisoner there, he was forced to give his wife power of attorney, and she was later coerced to turn over his entire art collection to Nazi officials. Many of the confiscated works were auctioned or sold to finance the Nazi Party, according to prosecutors. Grünbaum died in Dachau in 1941 and his wife was killed a year later in a Nazi death camp.
New York prosecutors found evidence that a Manhattan art dealer had dealt with seven of the Schiele works owned by Grünbaum, which gave them jurisdiction to get involved and have the stolen pieces returned to their rightful owners.
The seven artworks were returned voluntarily by museums and collectors once prosecutors told them the items were stolen by the Nazis. The drawings have been valued at between $780,000 and $2.75 million each and were seized by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Standing Woman (Prostitute) from 1912 and Girl Putting on Shoe (1910) were seized from New York’s Museum of Modern Art; Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Edith (1915) was handed over by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in California; and Self-Portrait (1910) was given back by the Morgan Library & Museum in New York.
Two art collectors also turned over paintings by Schiele. World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder surrendered I Love Antithesis (1912), the most expensive piece valued at $2.75 million, and the Valley Sabarsky Trust gave back Portrait of a Boy (1910) — the only one of the seven artworks valued under $1 million — as well as Seated Woman (1910).
“These priceless works of art have a history we cannot ignore and collectively tell the story of the realities that were endured by millions during the Holocaust,” said Arvelo. “Franz Friedrich (Fritz) Grünbaum and his wife, Elisabeth never had the opportunity to be reunited with their treasured art prior to their untimely deaths, but their legacies will now live on. Today, with deep respect, we humbly restore seven of these precious pieces to their rightful heirs, ensuring their profound significance will not be forgotten.”
At least six of the returned Schieles will be auctioned by Christie’s in New York this year, according to the New York Times. Reif said proceeds from the sale will help fund the newly formed Grünbaum Fischer Foundation and establish a scholarship program for young musicians in Grünbaum’s memory.
Just last week, investigators in New York seized three other Schiele artworks that they said were also stolen by the Nazis and should be rightfully owned by Grünbaum’s heirs. The family previously won back in a 2018 New York State case two more Schieles pieces — Woman in a Black Pinafore (1911) and Woman Hiding Her Face (1912) — from art collector Richard Nagy.
