Der Standard, March 6, 2020

German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000115433143/kunstrueckgabebeirat-empfiehlt-restitution-von-schiele-gemaelde

Vienna – The Art Restitution Advisory Council decided on two recommendations for restitution during its 95th session on Friday. As Der Standard had already reported on Wednesday, Egon Schiele’s painting “Four Trees” is to be restituted from the Belvedere to the heirs of Josef Morgenstern. In addition, a collection of more than 370 maps, currently in possession of the National Library, is to be transferred to the Austrian National Fund, given the lack of any indications regarding their previous owners.

Schiele’s ”Four Trees” were owned by the trade agent and lawyer Josef Morgenstern, who, after a multi-stage escape effort, was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where he was murdered. According to newly discovered documents in the Austrian State Archives, his widow Alice told authorities in the late 1950s, to have left the painting before the Anschluss with a friend and lawyer, Robert Röhrl, for safekeeping.

“Voided Legal Act”

Via Röhrl, the painting was purchased by Österreichische Gallerien via the Viennese gallery L.T. Neumann in 1943. According to today’s memorandum, the Advisory Council determined the attorney’s actions were “voided legal acts” and thus recommends restitution.

The second case involves a collection of over 370 maps (mountain-, hiking-, street maps, etc.) that in part were collected at Trieste Synagogue together with other items from the apartments of deported Jewish citizens and were assigned to the Austrian National Library by the Gestapo in 1938. “After the Advisory Council has established the case of the seizure of these objects but, due to the lack of information regarding the previous owners, was unable to identify the aggrieved persons, it recommends transfer to the National Fund for the Victims of Nacional Socialism of the Republic of Austria for further usage according to the art restitution law,” reads the decision.