(New York, New York, January 30, 2008) The heirs of Otto Nathan Deutsch have again called for the Swedish government to return the Emile Nolde painting “Blumengarten (Utenwarf)” which was looted by the Nazis after the Deutsch family was forced to flee Frankfurt Germany in 1938/1939.   

The Blumengarten (flower garden) painting, considered to be degenerate art by the Nazis, was taken from a moving company in Frankfurt after the Deutsch family had fled to Amsterdam. Other paintings including a second Nolde painting called “Mohn und Rosen” (Poppies and Roses) were also looted from the moving company which told the Deutsch family after the war that the paintings had been destroyed in a bombing raid. Both Nolde paintings were later sold by the Roman Norbert Ketterer Galerie in the mid-1960s. Inquires with the Henze Ketterer Galerie in Lugano Switzerland as to how the Ketterer Galerie obtain the paintings have gone unanswered.  

The Deutsch heirs requested the return of the Blumengarten painting in 2005. The Moderne Museet acknowledged that the painting was looted from the Deutsch heirs but has continued to refuse to return it. A resolution by the Swedish government last summer directing the museum to settle the Deutsch  claim has done little to help the matter. The heirs have tried to reach an agreement with the museum but so far such talks have failed.

Sweden’s failure to return the Blumengarten painting is an exception to the international norm that Nazi looted art in public museums should be returned without conditions to its rightful owners. Museums in the United States, Germany, France, Austria and Canada have returned Nazi looted art under similar circumstances. The Swedish government participated in the 1998 Washington Conference on Holocaust Looted Assets but so far has not implemented its provisions into its domestic laws.              
 

Rowland & Associates                 Schink & Studzinski
New York, New York, USA            Berlin, Germany
 

For further information contact:

David J. Rowland, Esq.
Rowland & Associates
Two Park Ave., 19nth Floor
New York, N.Y.  10016
USA

Tel. 212-685-5509
Fax  212-685-8862

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Website: www.rowlandlaw.com

In Europe contact:

RA Peter Schink
Schink & Studzinski
Ostseestr. 109
10409 Berlin
Germany

Tel. 011-49-30-42851177
Fax  011-49-30-42851178

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