November 5th, 2013 → 5:23 am @ // No Comments

    “I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
    Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
    Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,
    Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
    And each particular hair to stand an end
    Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.” – Hamlet

It makes my blood boil when I hear about thieves like Cornelius Gurlitt – whose father left him over a billion dollars worth of Nazi-era stolen art - who live a comfortable life until they are 80 years old and never pay a thing for their crimes.  The Nazis were terrible.  And it continues to be terrible that their crimes still are not ended.


4 Comments → “Nazi Art Trove”


  1. Chris Clark

    10 years ago

    I can’t say I’m familiar with Mr. Gurlitt’s entire story, but this isn’t the first treasure trove of art, relics, or other treasures procured by the Nazis that’s been handed down a generation before being either found or revealed. It’s too bad he didn’t come to the authorities himself, but I imagine there was at least some fear about being discovered and associated with crimes committed when he was about 10.

    I wish I could find a citation from the prior story that I’m thinking of, but the gist was that the man’s mother died in her 90s at which point her 69 year-old son discovered the hidden treasures than his father had stolen from a museum during the war and his mother had kept hidden after the father died. Realizing what they were he contacted the authorities and was then so thoroughly vilified (guilt by association, I guess) in the press and by local neighbors that he would up moving and changing his name. That one always pops up in my head as the counterpoint on sins of the father, etc..

    Reply

    • Lea

      10 years ago

      I do feel bad for the guy in the story you relate, but not for Cornelius Gurlitt. Sounds like he lived off this art work, selling a piece now and again for money, living guiltily and surreptitiously. Obviously I don’t know all the facts (and journalists can get things wrong), but even if he inherited the problem and was initially innocent, why not then say something? Do something right? Why do so many people stay quiet in the face of wrongdoing and evil? Maybe I would have stayed quiet too, had it been me… I don’t know. Either way, it’s a reminder of how utterly disappointing people can be…

      Reply

      • Chris Clark

        10 years ago

        No argument on that. I’d like to think that if I were in a similar situation I’d come forward and take the heat, but that’s just me hypothesizing without having to deal with the real-life implications for my kids, family, etc.

        Also, a tongue-in-cheek line from one of my (late) uncles that might give you a chuckle:
        “Whenever I find that my faith in my fellow man is restored and I start to think that even the worst among us is basically decent person at heart, I realize I haven’t been paying enough attention at the office.”

        Reply

        • Lea

          10 years ago

          That did make me laugh. 🙂

          Reply

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