When Sofie Heilbronner fled Nazi Germany in 1938, she packed up her belongings, including several artworks, to be shipped to New York. But the German government seized her possessions, auctioned them off and confiscated the proceeds.
The 1892 painting “Music (Arcadian Scene)” by Albert Lang, which she owned, was returned to her descendants at a ceremony held at the German embassy in Washington, D.C.
In the decades after the Nazis stole the picture, it was held by the Bavarian State Painting Collections, according to New York state authorities stated. It was discovered after the Bavarian National Museum posted on the Lost Art Databse in 2015.
In 2018, descendants of Heilbronner contacted the New York State Holocaust Claims Processing Office for assistance locating and recovering lost artworks. The state identified the painting in the museum as being identical to the lost Lang work, and the state filed a claim for its restitution. It was returned with the cooperation of the Bavarian government, New York State officials stated on Tuesday.
The Holocaust Claims Processing Office was created in 1997 as part of New York State Financial Services office to help Holocaust victims and their descendants recover lost assets, including dormant bank accounts, unpaid proceeds of insurance policies and artworks stolen or sold under duress. The office has helped return over $184 million in assets to victims’ families while also resolving claims involving over 370 cultural objects to date, the state said.
It states that it is the only government entity in the world providing such services free of charge or commission.
The Lang painting was one of several artworks taken from unidentified Jewish collections during the Holocaust and later found stored in a Munich warehouse. They were transferred to the museum in 1955 by the Bavarian State Office for Asset Management and Restitution.
“The return of this painting corrects a longstanding historical wrong and restores to us an important piece of our heritage,” stated Paul Laporte, great-grandson of Heilbronner, speaking on behalf of the heirs.
“More than a work of art, it once hung in the Heilbronner home in Munich and remains a tangible connection to a life and world irrevocably altered by the Holocaust,” he said. “It is one of few surviving witnesses to our family’s life in Germany before persecution and displacement.”
“As we celebrate the legacy of Sofie Heilbronner, the department is committed to working in partnership with government agencies, cultural institutions, nonprofits and others to recover lost funds and artwork on behalf of survivors and their families,” stated Kaitlin Asrow, acting superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services.
