Italy returns to rightful owners a statue attributed to Andrea della Robbia, stolen by the Nazis from a German family

A Magdalene attributed to Andrea della Robbia (Florence 1435 - 1525), which had been stolen by the Nazis from a German Jewish family and mistakenly returned to Italy after the war, has been returned to Germany. Today, in Berlin, Cultural Heritage Minister Dario Franceschini attended the ceremony to return the work to its rightful owners together with German Culture Minister Monika Grütters and Carabinieri Commander for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Roberto Riccardi.

The statue was in the Uffizi: it was in Italy because the Allies, in 1954, mistakenly returned it to the Italian government in implementation of the agreement between the heads of government of the two countries at the time, Konrad Adenauer and Alcide De Gasperi, which provided, among other things, for the return of works of art that ended up in Germany illegally during the war. The Florence Carabinieri’s Nucleo Tutela Patrimonio Culturale and Uffizi officials determined that the sculpture, found by Americans among the collections of General Hermann Göring, had belonged to the Kunsthaus Drey art gallery in Munich, which was owned by the Jewish families of Siegfried Drey and Ludwig Stern. The two families, under the pressure of Nazi racial laws, were forced to sell off at public auction their entire estate, which was dispersed. The process of decemanization of the work, carried out through the work of the Committee for the Recovery and Restitution of Cultural Property of the Mibact in concert with the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the Uffizi Galleries and the State Attorney’s Office, made it possible to achieve the return of the Magdalene to its rightful owners through the German government.

“Just a few weeks after the seventy-fifth anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps,” said Minister Franceschini, “this restitution represents another moment to honor the memory of the victims of Nazi-Fascism and consolidate cultural relations between Italy and Germany. The spoliation of cultural heritage that followed the racial laws represents a black page of human history that is still unresolved. With Minister Grütters, with whom we share a commitment to the protection of cultural heritage, we signed a joint declaration in which, recalling the application of the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art of December 3, 1998, we confirm our commitment to return the works confiscated during the Nazi-Fascist regimes and to strengthen actions to combat illicit trafficking.”

“The goal of the Federal Government,” said German Minister Monika Grütters, “remains the unreserved return of artworks stolen during the National Socialist period. The restitution activity depends on the cooperation of other countries, as art stolen by the National Socialists is often found outside Germany´s borders. In the case of Andrea della Robbia´s statue, Germany supports Italy in returning it to its rightful heirs. Thus Italy and Germany jointly assume a historic responsibility. I warmly thank my Italian counterpart Dario Franceschini for his trust in my ministry in returning the statue: it is a good example of international cooperation in this area. A cooperation that we must strengthen, we owe it to the victims of the National Socialists.”

Pictured: a moment of the ceremony with Ministers Franceschini and Grütters and the statue attributed to Andrea della Robbia.

Italy returns to rightful owners a statue attributed to Andrea della Robbia, stolen by the Nazis from a German family

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