Berlin museums return works sold at Nazi era auction

Berlin’s city museums authority says it has returned 11 works that were part of prominent art owner Margarete Oppenheim’s collection and were auctioned off under Nazi rule in 1936. (© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst / Antje Voigt / © Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Saturia Linke)

Berlin’s city museums authority says it has returned 11 works that were part of prominent art owner Margarete Oppenheim’s collection and were auctioned off under Nazi rule in 1936.

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation said Monday the works were found in two museums’ collections.

Of the 11 pieces returned to Oppenheim’s heirs, the foundation bought back five—two works from the Danube School and three 18th-century porcelain pieces.

Margarete Oppenheim, the wife of chemist and industrialist Franz Oppenheim, had one of Germany’s largest and most valuable art collections.

She and her heirs were of Jewish descent. The heritage foundation said it can safely be assumed that the auction, the year after Oppenheim’s death, was not held at a time of her executors’ choosing and the sale can be classified as resulting from persecution.