必克VOA新闻：瑞士博物馆接受纳粹时期掠夺的珍贵藏品

 

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Swiss Museum to Accept Nazi-era Art Trove

A museum in Switzerland has decided to accept hundreds of artworks from the son of a Nazi-era art dealer. German authorities seized a priceless collection of 1,280 artworks in 2012, hidden in an apartment in the city of Munich. Many of the works were looted from Jewish families across Europe by the Nazis.

The collection of paintings was discovered by tax inspectors who were searching the Munich apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt, son of Adolf Hitler’s art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt in 2012.

Cornelius Gurlitt died in May this year - and named the Bern Art Museum in Switzerland as his ‘sole heir’. President of the museum’s Board of Trustees Christoph Schaeublin announced Monday it would accept some of the artworks.

Schaeublin said the decision was far from easy for the board of trustees. He added there were certainly no feelings of triumph, which would be absolutely inappropriate in light of the art collection's history.

Among the works are paintings by Pablo Picasso and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The Bern Art Museum said it would not accept looted artworks, and pledged to help return stolen paintings to their rightful owners.

That will not be an easy task, says Christopher Marinello of Art Recovery International in London, which specializes in stolen and disputed artworks.

“It is extremely difficult to identify and prove a claim to Nazi-looted artwork. Many of these people were fleeing for their lives and the last thing they were about to do is grab a box of receipts," said Marinello.

An agreement known as the "Washington Principles" aims to make it easier for claimants to prove ownership of stolen art. German authorities have struggled to deal with the fallout of the extraordinary find in 2012, says Marinello.

“There is a lot to be learned in this case and the way it was handled for the next time. And I do believe there will be a next time. We have not seen the last of hordes of Nazi-looted works of art," he said.

The recovery of some of the art looted by the Nazis was dramatized in the 2013 movie The Monuments Men, starring George Clooney.

Earlier this year, a photo album depicting such stolen masterpieces was donated to the United States’ National Archives.

Eighty-eight-year-old Harry Ettlinger was one of the original Monuments Men - six soldiers from a US Army unit tasked with recovering thousands of looted artworks at the end of World War 2, some of them hidden inside salt mines. He recalled his first mission.

“The first one happened to contain the stained glass windows from the cathedral of Strasbourg, and [General Dwight] Eisenhower made a big deal about it, rightfully so, and it was my job to go down into the mine and have miners help me get those boxes up and put on trucks to be returned," said Ettlinger.

Nearly 70 years after that mission, the hunt continues for more priceless art.

【参考译文】

德国收藏者去世 珍贵藏品捐给瑞士美术馆

瑞士一家美术馆说，将接受一名德国人捐赠的珍贵艺术品收藏。这些珍品中有些据信是纳粹从犹太人手裡劫掠的。

瑞士伯尔尼美术馆星期一表示将把这些画作纳入馆藏，但会确保归还纳粹德国从犹太人手裡夺走的艺术品。

德国当局2012年在调查税务的时候，从德国人古尔利特在慕尼黑的公寓中拿走了1200多件藏品。

古尔利特表示这些画都是他父亲通过合法手段获得的。古尔利特的父亲曾是希特勒的艺术品经纪人，帮助希特勒从博物馆和犹太收藏者手裡夺取艺术品。很多犹太收藏者在二战中死于纳粹集中营。

古尔利特今年5月去世，终年81岁。据法新社报道，古尔利特生前对德国政府如此对他感到愤怒，他因此立下遗嘱，将所有藏品捐给瑞士伯尔尼美术馆而不是德国的任何一家博物馆。他捐赠的藏品中有毕加索，莫奈和夏加尔等大师的作品。

世界犹太人大会在伯尔尼美术馆星期一宣佈接受捐赠之前说， 伯尔尼美术馆不应当接受，因为他们将面对很多法律诉讼。

古尔利特的一位亲戚表示将对古尔利特立遗嘱时精神是否正常提出异议，这样一来，伯尔尼美术馆可能无法立即接收这批艺术藏品。

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