Reclaimed

My wife and I are members of the McNay Art Museum and were invited to a preview event for an art exhibit opening this week. The collection of paintings is incredible, and the story behind them is even more astounding.

Jacques Goudstikker was a man living in Amsterdam in the late 30’s who had a passion for art. He spent years collecting works of European old world masters and amassed a collection estimated to be 1,400 paintings which he displayed in his art museum. It included such works as The entrance to a harbor by Simon de Vlieger and Ferry Boat with cattle on the River Vecht near Nijenrode by Salomon van Ruysdael, to name a few.

Life was good. Jacques met and married Viennese opera singer Désirée von Halban Kurz in 1937, and they were the toast of Amsterdam.

Then the Nazis came to town. Jacques hid his family, and for a few months tried to smuggle things out of the country. But he soon felt it was too dangerous for them to stay in the country because you see, Jacques was a Jew.

Jacques and his family managed to get passage on a ship out of the country. Unfortunately most of his relatives decided to stay, and died at Auschwitz. But just as tragically, less than 48 hours after Jacques escaped the country he took a late night walk on the deck of the ship and fell through an open passage hatch and died.

Back in Amsterdam, the Nazis looted his museum. Hermann Göring himself came to the museum and took several hundred paintings.

For over 60 years Jacques family has been trying to hunt down the stolen collection. After WWII the paintings that Göring stole ended up in the hands of the Dutch, but for some reason they wouldn’t return them.

Between 1996 and 1998, Dutch investigative journalist Pieter den Hollander attracted international attention with his exposé of how the post-war restitution of stolen art often ignored the rights of the legal owners. But thanks to the efforts of many people fighting for the family’s rights, 202 paintings were returned to them in 2006.

These paintings are on display at the McNay until January 10th of next year, and they are stunning. Jacques daughter-in-law and grand daughter were there last night to give a presentation about the exhibit. Their story is compelling, and their work is far from over.

Interestingly enough, they said that most of the time when they discover some of their stolen artwork in European museums it is returned almost immediately now. The country that has given them the most problem is… you guessed it… the United States. They are battling several museums in California who refuse to return their paintings even when presented with positive proof of ownership. The one U.S. museum that did immediately return a painting that was discovered in it was here in Texas. It’s nice to know Texans respect other people’s property.

“God, war is never a good thing, and the events of WWII continue to affect us even today. I pray that we never let this happen again. Amen.”