The restitution of art stolen by the Nazis is an issue that continues to create disputes and stories between the descendants of survivors and the institutions that today own the works that belonged to their ancestors.

There are opinions with the position that several of these works should remain in museums, available to the general public, however, the feeling that part of what was stolen in a cruel way can return to belong to your family, is something that only the victims of the holocaust can understand deeply. Also, to be honest, if a Van Gogh, a Klimt or a Pissarro was stolen from your family, wouldn't you try to get it back?

Well, it is precisely a Pissarro that the descendants of Lily Cassier Neubauer seek to recover. Lilly was an art dealer and like any other Jew during the Third Reich, her life and that of her family was threatened by Nazi power. In order to survive, she was forced to sell an important Impressionist painting in exchange for her and her husband's escape from Germany.

The painting “Rue Saint-Honoré in the evening. Rain Effect” (1897) is in the Thyssen-Bornemiza Museum in Madrid and in 2001, Claude Cassier, Lilly's grandson, decided that he should recover his grandmother's painting and that same year the legal dispute began. Claude passed away in 2010, but his descendants continue to try to recover the work and currently have the help of Rob Bonta, Attorney General of the State of California, however, this dispute is clearly a complicated case that has lasted more than two decades. The work is valued at approximately 28 million euros and is definitely a piece that any museum would think hard about giving.

Fortunately, the Cassier family has the support of the attorney general and their case has gone around the world, perhaps this year progress will finally be made in this dispute and a fair conclusion will be reached.

Source: The Jewish News of Northern California