After decades-long saga, Lexington family settles claim for Nazi-looted art
A Massachusetts-based case involving a painting stolen by the Nazis has been resolved after a decades-long effort, underscoring the steep odds many Holocaust survivors and their heirs face as they try to reclaim their stolen property.
For nearly 80 years, the Graf family, Viennese Jews who fled Austria to escape the Nazis, has sought the return of “La Punta della Dogana e san Giorgio Maggiore,” a sweeping panorama of Venice by the 18th-century artist Michele Marieschi.
Stolen by the Germans in 1940, the painting remained concealed in an Englishman’s private collection for decades as Heinrich Graf, and later his Massachusetts daughters, pursued the work. They wrote countless letters to authorities, seeking legal redress and asking third-party intermediaries for help.
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