Paintings from Hearst Castle Returned to Family of Holocaust Victims

San Simeon, CA: After an extensive investigation from information received in March 2007, three paintings that have been hanging on the walls of Hearst Castle for decades are being repatriated to the heirs of the Oppenheimer estate.

An inquiry on March 1, 2007, from the Oppenheimer estate attorney, Eva Sterzing, prompted an investigation into the ownership history of the paintings. Deputy Attorney General Dan Siegel and California State Parks Chief Counsel Bradly Torgan researched the chain of title of the works of art and concluded that family members had a viable claim.  With the full concurrence of the Hearst Corporation (which has a reversionary interest clause in the 1972 gift deed) the State of California decided the paintings should be rightfully returned to the heirs of Jacob and Rosa Oppenheimer.

In 1972 the paintings were deeded to State Parks by the Hearst Corporation as part of the transfer of Hearst Castle to California State Parks.  William Randolph Hearst, unaware of the circumstances surrounding their ownership, acquired them in April 1935 from I. & S. Goldschmidt Galleries, Berlin. “All three paintings were sent to their present locations in Casa Grande between August 1935 and September 1940”, said Museum Director Hoyt Fields. The investigation revealed that the paintings belonged to Jacob and Rosa Oppenheimer, who were the owners of the Galerie van Diemen art gallery in Berlin in the early 1930s.  The three paintings were part of “judenauktionen”, a coerced sale of Jewish assets by the Nazis. 

Mr. Peter Bloch, one of the Oppenheimers’ grandchildren, and Eva Sterzing, attorney for the claimants, will accept the paintings. Bloch will travel to Sacramento from Florida and Sterzing will make the journey from Paris, France. Today there are eight living descendents of Jacob and Rosa Oppenheimer that survived the Holocaust to tell the story.  

Hearst Castle and the State of California are to be commended for doing the right thing - ethically, legally and morally - and for upholding the high standards of the museum field,” said American Association of Museums Director of International Programs and Ethics, Erik G. Ledbetter. “At AAM we have worked to help establish standards and procedures museums and claimants can jointly use to resolve claims to Nazi-era looted art. Through conscientious, diligent action by all parties in this case, these works of art are to be returned to their rightful owners - demonstrating how these standards and procedures adopted by the museum fields can help dispel the fog of oppression and war and facilitate just resolutions.”

After the Nazis seized power in Germany, the Oppenheimers were subjected to racial and ethnic persecution, ultimately being forced to give up control of their art business. They fled to Vichy France; neither the Oppenheimers nor their heirs received revenue from subsequent sales. The proceeds went to pay the Reichfluchtsteuer (Reich flight tax) and other related punitive and confiscatory taxes designed to strip the Jews of their assets. Sadly, the Oppenheimers eventually perished in the Holocaust.

Hearst Castle as a California State Park is honored to return the three paintings to their rightful owners. The family has graciously agreed to allow California State Parks to retain ownership of one of the paintings to remain on display at Hearst Castle as an interpretive and educational piece. When seen on tour, Guides will identify the owners and tell the story of the seizure of Holocaust era assets and the efforts to locate and return the assets to the rightful owners. The family has also allowed California State Parks to make photographic reproductions of the two repatriated paintings for display in the location they have hung for decades.

“The entire museum field salutes the Oppenheimer family heirs for their generosity in donating one of the three works back to San Simeon,” noted Mr. Ledbetter. “Through this thoughtful act all visitors to Hearst Castle, now and in the future, will have an opportunity to learn about Jacob and Rosa Oppenheimer, understand their tragic story, and keep their memory alive.”

The paintings that are subject to the claim are as follows:

Anonymous Venetian artist, first half of the sixteenth century, half-length portrait of a man with a book and necklace of shells around his shoulders, attributed to Giovanni Cariani. Tour #2, Doge Suite north bedroom (Repatriated)

Paris Bordon (school of) Venetian, 1500-1571, Venus and Cupid; Tour #3, New Wing 2nd floor Room #4, (Retained) and,

Jacopo Tintoretto (school of), Venetian, 1518-1594, Portrait of Alvise Vendramin. Tour #2, Doge Suite Sitting room (Repatriated)

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For more information, please call Dan Eller, Public Relations at Hearst Castle®
(805) 927-2074, www.hearstcastle.com.

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