Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Berlin Court Returns Poster Collection to Jewish Heir


A Berlin administrative court has ruled in favor of Peter Sachs, an heir of a victim of Nazi art looting. Article here.
The decision requires the German History Museum to return thousands of posters, including one of Simplicissimus's Red Bulldog.
According to the Kulturkampf blog:
Simplicissimus was a German magazine that began in 1896 and ran until 1967. It was characterized by a sharp, satirical style that was enhanced by its stylish imagery. The paper's mascot, the red bulldog by Thomas Theodore Heine, is an almost iconic image, and its original is at MoMA in New York.
It is good to see the anti-fascist bulldog's return to its Jewish owner after so many years.
Austrian Jewish comedian Fritz Grunbaum founded an antifascist political cabaret called Simplicissimus in Vienna. When Hitler invaded Austria on March 12, 1938, Grunbaum was arrested by the Gestapo and put in the first transport to Auschwitz. Today the Vienna cabaret is known as Kabarett Simpl.
Simple justice can take a long, long time.

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