No Polizei for the Stolen Property of Vienna's Jews (Photo Wikipedia)
Oskar Reichel, a Jewish doctor in Vienna, was forced to give up his artworks by the Nazis, an Austrian panel found, including one work by Egon Schiele.Jenny Steiner's Schiele "Houses by the Sea" was confiscated and sold through Vienna's infamous Dorotheum in 1941.
All of the works are at the infamous Leopold Museum in Vienna. Austria used the fiction of creating a "private foundation" so that it could acquire Rudolph Leopold's vast collection of artworks, many looted from Jews. More on Leopold here.
Of course the recommendations of the panel are non-binding. No chance that the Bundespolizei will be called in.
From the Dorotheum's self-serving Wikipedia page:
During the Nazi regime important posts within the Dorotheum hierarchy were assigned to supporters of the regime. The institution's infrastructure was used to auction off aryanised property, although the Dorotheum itself was at no time actively involved in Aryanisation.
Link to AP Story:
Austrian Panel Recommends Return of 4 Works - ABC News
Purchase Copyright Litigation Handbook from West here
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