Heirs Win Back Nazi-Looted Art, Lose Others in Auction

BLOOMBERG
By Catherine Hickley

This early Renaissance painting of the virgin and child was handed to the Max Stern estate by a museum.
The estate is seeking a total of about 400 missing works. 

GERMANY---The heirs of Max Stern, a Jewish art dealer who fled Nazi Germany after he was forced to close his gallery, today announced the recovery of a painting he lost 76 years ago. That is only half the story. They may have lost track of two more pictures that Stern was forced to sell for good. The Stern estate’s experience spotlights the difficulties heirs face in tracing and reclaiming the countless Nazi-looted artworks that have vanished into German private collections, even when they are offered for sale by auction houses. While museums are morally accountable under international principles endorsed by the German government on returning Nazi-looted art, German art dealers and auction houses often pursue strictly legal arguments. Under German law, the statute of limitations for theft expires after 30 years, and claimants have little hope of winning title in court. [link]