Lost Lives, Lost Art Jewish Collectors, Nazi Art Theft, and the Quest for Justice

The legendary names include Rothschild, Mendelssohn, Bloch-Bauerdistinguished bankers, industrialists, diplomats, and art collectors. Their diverse taste ranged from manuscripts and musical instrushy;ments to paintings by Old Masters and the avant-garde. But their stigma as Jews in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe doomed them to exile or death in Hitler's concentration camps. Here, after years of meticulous research, Melissa Muller (Anne Frank: The Biography) and Monika Tatzkow (Nazi Looted Art) present the tragic, compelling stories of 15 Jewish collectors, the dispersal of their extraordinary collections through forced sale and/or confiscation, and the ongoing efforts of their heirs to recover their inheritance. For every victory in the effort to return these works to their rightful heirs, there are daunting defeats and long court battles. This real-life legal thriller follows works by Rembrandt, Klimt, Pissarro, Kandinsky, and others.

Melissa Müller wrote the bestselling Anne Frank: The Biography, and is coauthor with Traudl Junge of Until the Final Hour: Hitler’s Last Secretary, which was the basis for the film Downfall.

 

Monika Tatzkow, a historian, is coauthor of the restitution-case handbook Nazi Looted Art.