Swiss raid Nazi art thief’s bank safe

Another Pissarro "Boulevard Monmartre: Spring" at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem Keystone

At least 14 masterpieces found in a Swiss bank safe belonging to Bruno Lohse, who stole art for the Nazis, have been confiscated as part of a blackmail investigation.

The Zurich prosecutor’s office said it raided the safe as part of a three-nation probe of a German art dealer and an American art historian.

The two are accused of conspiring to withhold a painting by French Impressionist Camille Pissarro from its rightful owner, the heir of a Jewish art collector, unless she paid a finder’s fee equal to 18 per cent of its value.

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

Lohse, who was sentenced to ten years in prison after the war, died in March in Munich aged 95.

Confirming reports in the Swiss weekly “Cash” and the German newspaper “Süddeutsche 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.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung estimated the value of the painting at €5 million (SFr8.2 million). That would put the fee demanded by the men at €900,000.

According to the report, the other paintings in the safe included works by Dürer, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Kokoschka and van Kessel, with each work worth several million euros.

“Good faith”

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 Zürcher Kantonalbank. He said he would inform prosecutors in Munich and Liechtenstein of his findings by early next week.

swissinfo with agencies

In brief

A case involving the restitution of a work of art made waves in Germany last year. A painting by Kirchner, sold in 1936 under Nazi pressure, was returned by the Brücke Museum in Berlin to the heirs of Alfred Hess.

From 1933 many Jews transferred their goods to Switzerland to avoid confiscation by the Nazis. Some goods were also sold by their owners, but the problem is ascertaining whether this was done with consent or as the result of Nazi pressure.

Forty-four states are involved in identifying stolen works of art.