Category Archives: Germany

Glasgow to compensate heirs of Nazi victim

Posted on: October 9, 2015 by Alexander Herman

Following on from my last post about two recent reports from the UK’s Spoliation Advisory Panel (SAP) regarding Nazi-looted art in British public collections, it was reported this summer that Glasgow City Council has followed an earlier SAP recommendation in relation to a 16th century tapestry fragment held at the city’s Burrell Collection. The November 2014 report recommended that an ex gratia payment (literally meaning […]

Update and thoughts on Gurlitt

Posted on: August 6, 2015 by Alexander Herman

It has been some time since we discussed the Gurlitt affair in these pages. And what has happened since? Well, the challenge to Gurlitt’s will by his cousin Uta Werner has continued on. It is now before the Higher Regional Court in Munich (Oberlandesgericht München) and just last month the Court requested a psychological opinion concerning Gurlitt’s competence […]

Update on Freedom of Panorama

Posted on: July 10, 2015 by Alexander Herman

Just a quick update to say that yesterday the European Parliament voted – overwhelmingly – to remove the proposed restrictions on Freedom of Panorama (FOP) from the report currently being debated. The proposal had been outlined in two earlier blogs: here and here. That means the status quo will be maintained: countries such as the UK, […]

World Heritage at Risk: Bonn Meeting

Posted on: July 4, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

The World Heritage Committee is currently meeting in Bonn (28 June to 8 July) to consider nominations for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. In addition, UNESCO’s director general, Irina Bokova has confirmed that UNESCO is entering into a contract for satellite monitoring of sites at risk of looting and destruction. At the opening of […]

Gurlitt’s Cousin Appeals Judgment of Probate Court

Posted on: April 30, 2015 by Nina M. Neuhaus

Uta Werner, the cousin of late Cornelius Gurlitt, has decided to appeal against the judgment of the Probate Court in Munich (Amtsgericht München). In its judgment, the Probate Court as Court of First Instance has granted the Museum of Fine Arts Bern’s application for a certificate of inheritance and, at the same time, rejected a […]

US action for restitution of Guelph Treasure

Posted on: February 27, 2015 by Alexander Herman

A complaint was filed this week in a US court which seeks the return of the Guelph Treasure, a famous collection of German medieval items, currently held by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. The complaint is being brought by descendants of the one-time Jewish owners of the treasure, who had to part with it in 1935. The collection had […]

Gurlitt update: much research, no restitutions.

Posted on: February 24, 2015 by Alexander Herman

In a press release last week, the Kunstmuseum Bern explained that, due to the legal challenge to Cornelius Gurlitt’s will by his cousin Uta Werner (discussed by Nina Neuhaus here), there have as yet been no restitutions of artworks from the 2012 Munich art trove, neither by the museum, nor by any other body. Of course, news […]

Entire list of Gurlitt collection published

Posted on: December 3, 2014 by Alexander Herman

For the first time since its discovery in February of 2012 – or indeed for the first time ever – the collection of approximately 1600 works of art belonging to Cornelius Gurlitt has been made public. This has been done by the Museum of Fine Art Bern (or Kunstmuseum) in two separate parts: those found in his […]

Gurlitt cousin applies for certificate of inheritance

Posted on: November 27, 2014 by Nina M. Neuhaus

The news coverage of the Causa Gurlitt has almost exclusively focused on the Museum of Fine Arts Bern’s decision to accept the bequest. A statement issued by the Probate Court in Munich (Nachlassgericht München) on the same date has drawn little attention. The Probate Court announced that on 21st November 2014, at 7.16 pm, Cornelius […]

The Bern-Germany-Bavaria Agreement on Gurlitt works

Posted on: November 25, 2014 by Alexander Herman

As reported yesterday, an agreement has been reached between the Bern Museum of Fine Arts (or Kunstmuseum), the German Republic and the Bavarian State on how to deal with the works of art bequeathed by Cornelius Gurlitt in his will to the Museum. A summary of the agreement is now available in English. In general […]