Germany, polyptych compartment returned seized by Nazis in 1935

The state of Bavaria has returned to its rightful owners a work from its collections, kept in Munich at the Staatsgalerie Burghausen, that had been taken by the Nazis during the persecution of Jews. It is a Saint Florian by an unknown artist from about 1480, a side compartment of a polyptych whose other panels are unknown. The work, during the Nazi years, was part of the collection of the A.S. Drey antiques gallery, owned by Aaron S. Drey, a Jew: it was seized from him and was later sold. In 1935, in fact, the Reich Chamber of Arts announced that Jewish galleries would be closed: dealers were required to pay large sums and decidedly high taxes, a circumstance that led several gallery owners to hand over many of their works to the state in their inability to pay. These included the St. Florian, which was purchased in 1936 by the state of Bavaria.

Last April 23, it was returned to Drey’s heirs, brothers Friedrich and Ludwig Stern, his nephews. “With the return of this work to its rightful owners,” said Bavaria’s education minister, Bernd Sibler, “the great injustice that the Drey and Stern families suffered at the hands of the Nazis has been officially recognized, and a step has been taken toward its reparation.” This is the 21st work for Bavaria’s state collections in recent years.

“We are grateful to the State Collections of Bavaria for carefully investigating the painting’s provenance and making contact,” said attorney Imke Gielen, who represents the heirs. “The return is also the result of systematic research conducted by Bavaria’s collections on objects owned by them.”

Pictured: the St. Florian (photo by Johannes Haslinger)

Germany, polyptych compartment returned seized by Nazis in 1935

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