◼ A random background check designed to expose money-launderers travelling to Switzerland has uncovered a treasure trove of modern art thought to have been destroyed in Nazi Germany.
Hildebrandt Gurlitt was an associate of the Nazi leadership who is thought to have acquired works deemed “degenerate” that had largely been seized from Jewish collectors.
His surviving son had apparently kept the collection in his home and is thought to have sold off some of the works as a means of support....
We went into the apartment expecting to find a few thousand undeclared euros, maybe a black bank account,” a Customs spokesman told Focus. 'But we were stunned with what we found. From floor to ceiling, from bedroom to bathroom, were piles and piles of old food in tins and old noodles. Behind it all these pictures worth tens, hundreds of millions of euros.”
...Meike Hoffmann, a Berlin-based art dealer has been asked to help track down the potential owners of the works. At least 200 pieces are thought to be on lists of missing treasures.
