[MSN] Austria. Cultural minister wants 'clarity' on artwork allegedly stolen by Nazis

[MSN]

Cultural minister wants 'clarity' on artwork allegedly stolen by Nazis
Veronika Oleksyn, Associated Press

Thursday, March 27, 2008

(03-27) 04:00 PDT Vienna, Austria -- Austria's culture minister said
Wednesday she was seeking "clarity" regarding an art collection that
allegedly contains works stolen by the Nazis.

The Leopold Museum Private Foundation in Vienna has been criticized by the
country's Jewish community and others. Ariel Muzicant, head of Vienna's
Jewish community, has said several of the foundation's paintings were looted
by the Nazis.

Culture Minister Claudia Schmied said she expected the foundation to "open
up" by early April and approve an independent examination of its collection
by two researchers paid by the federal government.

"This is about clarity, about the clear laying out of facts on the
provenance of these works of art," Schmied said.

A legal opinion commissioned by the Jewish community found that at least 11
of the foundation's works, including some by Egon Schiele, Anton Romako and
Albin Egger-Lienz, belonged to people who were persecuted by the Nazis - and
that collector Rudolf Leopold must have been aware, when he acquired them,
of the possibility that they had been seized.

"He knew, or he must have known, that these paintings belonged to people who
were persecuted by the Nazis," said Georg Graf, who wrote the legal opinion.
"Because of that knowledge, he must have been aware of the possibility that
these were stolen goods."


Leopold, in an interview with the newspaper Die Presse, disputed the
allegations.

"In my eyes, the pictures were acquired lawfully," Leopold said. "Lots of
lies and half truths are being spread," he said.

Austria has returned looted works of art held by federal museums to their
rightful owners or heirs, most of them Jewish, under a 1998 restitution
law..

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