[MSN] Swiss raid bank safe belonging to late Nazi art thief

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Swiss raid bank safe belonging to late Nazi art thief


2007-06-01 18:58:50 - 


ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - Paintings from a Swiss bank safe linked to a
notorious Nazi art thief have been confiscated as part of an investigation
into whether the heir of a Jewish art collector was blackmailed, authorities
said Friday.

The Zurich prosecutor's office said it raided the safe as part of a
three-nation probe of a German art dealer accused of conspiring with an
American art historian to withhold a painting by French impressionist
Camille Pissarro from its rightful owner unless she paid a finder's fee
equal to 18 percent of its value.

Prosecutor Ivo Hoppler said the safe was rented by a trust based in the
neighboring principality of Liechtenstein and was accessed by Bruno Lohse,
who spirited away art from all over Europe during World War II on behalf of
Hermann Goering, Hitler's top aide.

Lohse died two months ago in Munich.

Confirming reports in the Swiss weekly «Cash» and German daily «Sueddeutsche
Zeitung,» Hoppler said Zurich officials were acting on a judicial assistance
request from Munich prosecutors, who are investigating how the unidentified
art dealer obtained Pissarro's «Le Quai Malaquais, Printemps.»

The painting was stolen from Jewish publisher Samuel Fischer in 1938. The
investigation began on a complaint from his niece, who was not identified.

Sueddeutsche Zeitung estimated the value of the painting at ¤5 million
(US$6.7 million). That would put the fee demanded by the men at ¤900,000
(US$1.2 million).

The paper said the German dealer claimed to have acquired the painting from
Lohse in good faith in the 1950s.

Munich chief prosecutor Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld said the dealer
contested the blackmail accusation and argued that requesting a finder's fee
was normal in such cases.

Schmidt-Sommerfeld said the investigation does not extend to the art
historian because he is an American citizen and his alleged crimes would
have been committed outside Germany.

Hoppler said he could not yet confirm whether the Pissarro piece was among
those found in the safe kept at the Zuercher Kantonalbank. He said he would
inform prosecutors in Munich and Liechtenstein of his findings by early next
week. 

http://www.pr-inside.com/