Karen S. Franklin, Director, Family Research Project, Leo Baeck Institute, NY

Dr. Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek, Curator, Researcher and Lecturer, Vienna

In recent months a number of news stories related to Nazi-era looted art have focused public attention on provenance issues. They include the discovery of hundreds of artworks hidden in Munich and Salzburg by Cornelius Gurlitt, son of the Nazi art trader Hildebrandt Gurlitt, and the release of The Monuments Men, a Hollywood film starring George Clooney. Next year a feature film entitled “The Woman in Gold“ will be released. The movie centers on Maria Altmann and her quest for the return of a Klimt painting of her aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer. The international cast includes Dame Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds and Katie Holmes. Public focus on issues of Nazi-era looted art will surely be renewed by the film if the initial obsession with the actors, their clothing and their stories is any indication of interest.

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