U.K. reimburses family for Nazi-looted art

The British government has agreed to compensate the relatives of a Czech art collector whose valuable drawings were stolen by the Nazis before ending up in the British Museum.

Heirs of Dr. Arthur Feldmann will receive 175,000 pounds ($357,000 Cdn) after a special panel decided there was “firm evidence” the works had been seized illegally.  The family decided the Old Master works should remain at the museum.

"We are sure this is what our grandfather would have wanted..." —Uri Peled

“I would like to express our delight that these drawings are remaining in the British Museum," said Feldmann’s grandson, Uri Peled, from his home in Israel.

"We are sure that this is what our grandfather would have wanted, for them to be available to the public and for future research."

The case dragged on for years because of British laws preventing the museum from disposing of any items from its collection.

The British government set up the spoliation advisory panel to adjudicate such cases.  It concluded in 2002 the four Old Master works were removed from the Feldmann’s home in Brno by the Gestapo in 1939.  Soon after, Peled and the museum’s officials worked on an agreement to satisfy both sides.

The doctor was tortured and killed by the Nazis, and his wife, Gisela, died at Auschwitz.

Three of the drawings were sold to the museum through a Sotheby’s sale in 1946 and another was part of a bequest to the museum in 1949.

The drawings are:

• St. Dorothy with the Christ Child (1508) by a follower of Martin Schongauer, a German engraver
• The Holy Family (16th century) by Italian Niccolo dell'Abbate
• Virgin and Child Adored by St. Elizabeth and the Infant St. John (18th century) by Martin Johann Schmidt
• An Allegory on Poetic Inspiration with Mercury and Apollo (18th century) by English artist Nicholas Blakey

The panel has also asked the government to introduce laws allowing the return of objects plundered by the Nazis.

The issue of Nazi-looted art has recently hit headlines as family members of Jewish art collectors launch court cases to retrieve their family heirlooms.

“I am currently taking expert advice on how to bring forward legislation to help us right these historic wrongs,” U.K. Culture Minister David Lammy told BBC News.

Peled said whatever happens in terms of legislation, the family won’t ask for the drawings back.