Berlin returns art to heirs of Nazi-persecuted Jewish owner
February 15, 2023
The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) announced Wednesday that three prominent works from Berlin's New National Gallery will be restituted to the heirs of Jewish lawyer Ismar Littmann. The SPK manages dozens of museums in the Berlin metropolitan area.
Littman died in 1934 from suicide after persecution from the Nazis. He built up a collection of 6,000 works of art by the end of the 1920s, featuring paintings by Lovis Corinth and Max Pechstein.
The restituted paintings include Max Pechstein's "Die Ruhende" (Resting Girl) from 1911 and Wilhelm Schmid's 1925 "Selbstbildnis" (Self Portrait)
Carlo Mense's 1925 work "Doppelbildnis" (Rabbi S and His Daughter) will also be restituted. Littmann's heirs will allow the latter painting to stay in the National Gallery as a donation.
SPK thanks Littmann's heirs for 'constructive cooperation'
"Persecution by the National Socialists drove Ismar Littmann to his death," SPK President Hermann Parzinger said in a statement. He expressed gratitude to the heirs of Ismar Littman and his wife Käthe for their "constructive cooperation" regarding the restitution of the artwork.
Parzinger said the decision to restitute the artwork is in line with the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art.
In 1998, the US Department of State and US Holocaust Museum hosted a gathering of delegates from 44 governments to discuss the losses of Jewish-owned art during the Nazi era, with participants coming up with guidelines regarding the restitution and identification of such works.
The three paintings restituted to Littmann's heirs were bought by the state of Prussia from the Dresdner Bank in 1935, and handed over to the National Museums shortly thereafter.
What happened to the art in Littmann's collection?
Littmann, born in 1878, was active as an art connoisseur in Breslau, now known as the Polish city of Wroclaw.
As the Nazis cracked down on his law practice and he faced a boycott from clientele due to antisemitism, Littmann was emotionally and financially devastated prior to his suicide.
Following his death, his widow Käthe made moves to auction off some of the artwork in Littmann's possession.
Shortly before the auction, the Nazis seized dozens of paintings in Littmann's collection and later put some of them on display in an exhibition showcasing "degenerate art."
In recent decades, Littmann's heirs have fought for the return of artwork that was once in his collection.
wd/rs (dpa, epd, KNA)