Germany: Looted art restitution project shows first results

Several German cultural institutions and the American heirs of a German-Jewish family today presented the first results of their joint efforts to restitute a vast art collection stolen by the Nazis.

Berlin's state museums found in their collections nine artworks the Nazis took from the family of Berlin newspaper publisher Rudolf Mosse, and returned them to Mosse's heirs.

The museums have since bought three of the pieces, including the marble sculpture "Susanna" by artist Reinhold Begas.

The other two works sold to the state museums are a Roman child sarcophagus and a sculpture of a reclining lioness by August Gaul.

Other German museums and research institutions are involved in the huge effort to identify and return over 1,000 pieces of art that are believed to have been stolen from Mosse's family, a project called the Mosse Art Research Initiative.

"So far, we have begun research on 115 works, and have uncovered reliable information on 68 of them," project coordinator Meike Hoffmann said.

A representative of Mosse's heirs, Roger Strauch, told reporters in Berlin that the joint project was unique because of the cooperation of all the institutions involved.

"The project does not aim to cast blame," Strauch said. "Rather, we are committed to returning property to their rightful heirs, as well as being sensitive to the inevitable awkwardness involved in this process."