The struggle to restore artwork that the Nazis stole: "Their honor is trampled"

Julius and Dora Clausner were forced to leave Germany in 1937. Five years ago, their grandchildren found out that their home also had pieces of art stolen from them, and as a result, they embarked on a quest for the family works. "They have done them a terrible injustice. Restoring the paintings is the least I can do for them," the granddaughter Molly said

The struggle to restore artwork that the Nazis stole: "Their honor is trampled"

On December 31, 1937, Julius and Dora Klausner realized that they had to leave Germany. Julius, who came as a teenager from Poland and founded with ten fingers of economic empire, was deported with his wife from the country where they saw their home. Feeling betrayed and despised, dispossessed of their property, the couple realized that they could no longer stay in Germany. The monetary ransom required to pay by the Nazi government to redeem the possibility of leaving Germany was enormous, and it was made clear to them that another day's delay in paying the redemption fee would be tripled, reaching dimensions they could no longer meet.

On the way to his private jet, Julius recalled forgetting the sweater he liked to wear at home, and asked to be followed again. But he realized it was better for him to give up the sweater and escape. From Berlin, the couple moved to the Netherlands and after a while they arrived in Argentina, mentally broken, when their lives were stolen from them and the country they admired and saw themselves meat, spitting in their faces.

The Clausner family was famous. It is a shoe factory and a thriving chain of stores with dozens of branches in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. "Laser" is the brand name that Clausner founded in 1891 and that had something in Berlin and other cities.

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They moved from Berlin to the Netherlands and after a while arrived in Argentina. Julius and Dora Clausner (Photo: Klaunzer Archive)

Julius and Dora Clausner (Photo: Klaunzer Archive, official website)

The injustice, humiliation and dispossession of their assets are, of course, familiar to the descendants of the Clausner. For example, they have photos in which Nazi senior officials celebrate themselves in the magnificent family home in Berlin, which became a high-profile club for hosting high society, and maintaining foreign relations for them, after the expulsion of the Jewish family.

But it was only five years ago that grandchildren and great-grandchildren found out that their grandparents' house also had artwork stolen from them, about which the descendants knew nothing. "In 2015, a lawyer from Fritz Anderlain called me from Germany, who was in contact with the family," says Molly Landsman, great-granddaughter of Clausner and granddaughter of Margot Klausner, a theater and film pioneer in the country. "He said he found a tidy list of the property that was in the house after grandparents had to leave, and that list also had 'paintings'. The Nazi officials did not list the paintings stolen from the Clausner family," Landsman said.

Advocate Underline began researching and trying to get information about those paintings. He was able to discover some interesting details in old auctions catalogs, architectural magazines and more. He presented a list of 14 works of art, some by well-known artists such as Peter Paul Rubens (PPRubens) A. Bruegel), Van Leyden, and more.

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"The revelations shocked me and my sisters." Molly Landsman and Adv. Underline (Photo: Ran Aviad)

Molly Landsman and attorney and Fritz Anderlein (Photo: Ran Aviad, official website)

Landsman said that "Adv. Underline has located documents that shed light on auctions of my grandparents' property, which the Nazis conducted. The sales revelations shocked me and my sisters. "She added that" We grew up on my grandfather's empire stories, sometimes some of them seemed like an exaggeration. It was difficult to understand how a simple Jew, who came from all over Poland, became a central figure in Berlin over the years, both on the economic and interpersonal level. "

Molly and her partner, Sound, have been documentary filmmakers for the past twenty years ("The Secretary," "My Daughters," "Dad Is Only Two," "The Last Chance," "The Volunteers Are Coming," "Story Beginning in the Picture," and more). With the desire to know more details about her family and their artwork, and with the passion of the older lawyer, the Landsman decided to embark on a cinematic journey following the looted works.

During the quest for the family pieces, the couple discovered that they had been sold at two auctions. One in 1938, after the Clausner left Germany. This sale was made on their own initiative to cover the expenses that were imposed on them when they were expelled from their home. The second sale was made in 1941 by the Gestapo. The auction house where the paintings were sold no longer exists, and the Landsman couple, along with Advocate Underline, have not found details on the route the paintings have been doing since they were issued by their owners.

Bureaucratic mechanisms designed to block and exhaust the heirs

The film also follows Roberto Gertz's fight, which seeks to return to him two hundred paintings stolen from his grandfather Robert. The Gertz family was also a Berlin family, economically based and deeply rooted in German culture. Robert Gertz refused to leave Germany and was murdered in Auschwitz. After years of fighting, Adv. Underlain managed to return Roberto two paintings. Other paintings are in the legal battle. Along with the personal-family story, the film, which is still at work, deals with the huge project of stealing artwork from the Jews. Estimated works that were looted and were not valued Huge financial.

During the pursuit of Advocate Underlain and in the investigation and photograph of the Landsman couple, they repeatedly encountered bureaucratic mechanisms designed to block and exhaust the heirs, and a set of laws that make it difficult for the families of the original owners of the stolen paintings. "For example, in Germany there is a statute of limitations that prevents the restoration of works held in private hands, there is a lack of information that makes it difficult to prove the trajectory of the stolen paintings, there is a requirement to show proof that the painting was in the hands of the family. Really want a picture of the painting hanging on the wall. "

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The film also follows its struggle at the same time. Robert Gertz at his Berlin home (Photo: Gertz Family Archive)

Robert Gertz at his Berlin home (Photo: Gertz Family Archive, official website)

Molly Landsman wondered if there was justice to the demand that all the burden of proof be on the shoulders of their survivors and their families and the image holder would not have to show proof of how the painting came to be. "This is a long and complicated legal process, and the existing law works against us," she said. "This is a mechanism of concealment and denial. The art world also participates in this, because if the paintings are returned to their owners, the museums will suffer a severe blow," Landsman added. She said that she felt, "This is convenient for everyone. There is darkness that makes it difficult to locate the works and in the meantime more and more people are passing away along with the information in their hands."

According to Molly and Tzil Landsman, "Among our goals was to restore works to museums in Israel, raise awareness of the extent of the robbery and make the State of Israel formally join the struggle and the restoration efforts."

A ray of light that illuminated their struggle was the uncompromising activity of Advocate Underline. He is a German citizen who was drafted into the Wehrmacht before the end of the war when he was 16 years old. "He acted with a strong sense of mission and dealt with it completely," said the Landsman. "A hearty man with a sense of humor whose economic benefit from this occupation was not the main thing for him," they added. Of injustice and injustice. "

The family pieces were sold at two auctions. Molly Landsman and Adv. Underline (Photo: Ran Aviad)

Molly Landsman and attorney and Fritz Anderlein (Photo: Ran Aviad, official website)

A year ago, while filming, he asked to see Molly urgently. At the meeting, filmed for the film, he told her of a petition he sent to Bundestag, Germany's House of Representatives, in light of the injustice he saw in the German set of laws designed to make it difficult to restore the artwork to their owners. Among other things, he shunned the operation of the law system in Germany, in case his car was stolen from a person and after being discovered by the police, was sold to another person. The original owners of the car will not be allowed to return it, just because they were late in updating the police about the theft.

Another law that causes injustice and against it came out of Underline, is a law that prevents non-immediate family members from receiving the stolen property. For example, the property of someone murdered in a concentration camp before raising a family and raising offspring will not be able to inherit his brother's grandson or grandchild.

At the end of their meeting, Anderlecht asked Landsman that his petition should be brought before the public in Israel through its publication in Israeli media. A day later he passed away at the age of 88. Under the petition, Underline did not receive a referral from the Bundestag, but Molly and Sounds fulfill his request to publish the petition, and despite the great difficulty that followed, they continue the fight. Molly said, "The pictures are something left over from grandparents. It's a little piece of their lives, something with the smell from home and the life they built." She added that "my grandparents who felt German and part of society and even returned to be buried in Berlin, were deported from their country. Their dignity has been trampled upon and done to them a terrible injustice. Restoring the paintings to them is the least I can do for them."