A work by painter Vassily Kandinsky sold during World War II to an Amsterdam museum has been returned to the heirs of a Jewish collector, the municipality said on Monday.
This puts an end to nine years of legal saga.
The descendants of businessman Emmanuel Lewenstein first took legal action in 2013, seeking the return of
Bild mit Häusern
(
Painting with Houses
), a 1909 painting by Kandisky. painting was sold at auction at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam under duress by Robert Lewenstein, son of Emmanuel Lewenstein, and his wife Irma Klein in October 1940, five months after Germany invaded the Netherlands.
An agreement reached
“The heirs and the municipality have reached (…) an amicable agreement”, indicated the City of Amsterdam in a press release, specifying that the painting had been given to the heirs on Monday.
The National Restitution Committee – responsible for deciding on cases of art objects looted during the German occupation of the Netherlands – had in 2013 rejected the first request of the heirs.
The case was sent back to the Amsterdam court in 2020, which in turn dismissed the claim, ruling that the committee had not made a mistake in its investigation.
The heirs appealed the decision.
In a twist, a second committee set up by the Dutch government in 2020 decided the matter needed to be reassessed, leading to further discussions between the heirs and the municipality.
The two parties have now reached an agreement.
“Part of the agreement with the heirs is that there is no further litigation in this case,” said Marit van Kooij, spokesperson for Touria Meliani, deputy mayor of Amsterdam.
Over 100,000 Jews deported from the Netherlands
“As a city, we bear a great responsibility in dealing with the untold suffering and injustice inflicted on the Jewish population during World War II,” she said in a statement.
“To the extent that something can be returned, we as a society have a moral duty to act accordingly,” added Touria Meliani.
More than 100,000 Jews were deported from the Netherlands to Nazi death camps during World War II, the majority of them living in Amsterdam.
The paintings of Vassily Kandisky, a painter born in Moscow and a pioneer of abstract art, are very popular and sell for several million euros.
World
A painting stolen from a Jewish collector by the Nazis will be returned to his descendants
Culture
France handed over three paintings stolen by the Nazis
Second World War
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amsterdam
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