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Works by Egon Schiele (September 20 in New York City)

Photo: Bobby Caina Calvan / AP

U.S. authorities have returned seven works of art stolen during the Nazi era to the heirs of Jewish art collector Fritz Grünbaum. "It's never too late to make up for some of what we've lost, honor the victims, and reflect on how their families continue to be affected to this day," said New York Attorney General Alvin Bragg at the handover of paintings by Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele (1890-1918) in New York on Wednesday.

According to the public prosecutor's office, Grünbaum had been taken into custody by the Nazis in 1938. Later, his wife had to hand over the art collection to the National Socialists. The works are said to have belonged to the collection of the Jewish cabaret artist and collector Grünbaum, who was murdered in the Dachau concentration camp in 1941.

The seven paintings were sold, among other things, in 1956 by the dealer Eberhard Kornfeld to a New York gallery, the prosecutor's office said. Kornfeld worked closely with the controversial art collector Cornelius Gurlitt and received hundreds of paintings of Nazi-looted art from Holocaust victims.

The prosecutor's office estimated the value of the paintings handed over at around 9.5 million dollars (8.9 million euros). These are, for example, the portraits "I love antitheses" and "Shoes-wearing girl". The work of the investigators and the handing over of the paintings was courageous, fair and possibly unique in the world, said Grünbaum heir Timothy Reif.

Museums and collectors had handed over works

The paintings had belonged to the collection of three museums and two private collections, including New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Morgan Library & Museum, as well as the collection of Ronald Lauder. According to the prosecutor's office, the work was handed over voluntarily.

Last week, there had already been US media reports that three more of Schiele's paintings had been confiscated on suspicion of looted art.

The heirs of the Austrian collector Grünbaum had already tried in the past to have allegedly stolen art restituted. According to the reports, they were successful in court in 2018. According to the report, two paintings were returned to their relatives in 2022.

jok/dpa