Ronald S. Lauder, the chairman of the World Jewish Congress, turned to the mayor of the city of Düsseldorf, Stephan Keller, in the dispute over the restitution of the painting “Foxes” (1913) by Franz Marc. “I turn to you today with great concern,” said a letter dated September 15 that threatened legal action. The reason is “insufficient progress” with the return of the picture, the “blatant inaction on the part of the city is simply not acceptable”.
In February it actually seemed as if the long-term controversy over the painting, which came to the municipal collections as a gift from the collector Helmut Horten in 1962 and is prominently exhibited in the Museum Kunstpalast, had come to an end with a decision by the Limbach Commission. The recommended the return to the heirs of Kurt and Else Grawi. The Jewish bank clerk Kurt Grawi managed to get the painting out of Germany during his escape to South America during the Nazi era and – in great financial need – to sell it. However, because his picture was not stolen or extorted from him in Germany, the city of Düsseldorf felt that it was right against the heirs. A criminal complaint against the city council of Düsseldorf, the head of the cultural department and the mayor delayed the return in early summer.
Kurt Grawi’s heirs asked Düsseldorf’s mayor to correct the “injustice to our family”
Although the investigation was soon closed, the family is still waiting for the handover, as Kurt Grawi’s daughter-in-law pointed out in a personal letter to Stephan Keller on July 5th. She asked for the “injustice against our family that has been upheld by public authorities in Germany with all their might for decades” to be corrected. “I am not sure if you can imagine how disappointing this is for me and for my family. Now I am over 91 years old and I would like to see restitution in this lifetime,” says the handwritten letter .
At the request of the SZ, the city of Düsseldorf announced on September 2nd that it was “currently preparing return agreements with the community of heirs”. In fact, the cultural politicians seem to be looking for buyers for the painting so that it can be kept by the city – as a loan or donation. In any case, the bouquet with which Stephan Keller thanked the heiress for her letter was accompanied by a greeting in which he addressed “the great wish of the city of Düsseldorf” to find an agreement with you and your family that would allow it to show the special painting to a broader public in the future “. Just because the heirs made it unmistakably clear in the past, according to their lawyer Markus H. Stötzel, that they are not concerned with money, but with the painting, this is a questionable project.
Düsseldorf’s cultural politicians who would like to continue to decorate their museum with the “foxes” should, however, also think about the reputation of the art city. Because Lauder, the chairman of the World Jewish Congress, threatens to take legal action “to ensure the return of the painting”. That would be an extraordinary process – which he is well aware of. “In the event of a lawsuit, it would become known throughout Germany and the United States that the Kunstpalast is holding onto cultural assets seized as a result of Nazi persecution. That would cast a bad light on the Museum Kunstpalast and the city of Düsseldorf. This could also be loans from other museums to the Make art palace difficult. “