GERMAN MANUFACTURER OFFERS TO RETURN POSSIBLY NAZI-LOOTED ART TO HEIRS

The German baking business Dr. Oetker, a family-owned manufacturer, claims it has discovered that four works in the company’s collection may have been looted by Nazis and has contacted heirs of the original Jewish owners in order to reach a settlement, according to Catherine Hickley of the Art Newspaper.

Dr. Oetker’s corporate collection includes several hundred paintings, along with silver and porcelain, according to a company statement. The bulk of the objects was acquired in the 1950s by Rudolf-August Oetker, who died in 2007. A provenance researcher was hired to investigate the art collection in 2015 after publishing a study about the firm’s history during the Third Reich.

Should any art be identified as having been looted by the Nazis or sold as the result of forced sales, the managers of the collection said they will seek an amicable settlement. A spokesman for the company declined to give details about the four works it has already determined to be looted because of confidentiality agreements with the heirs. The collection itself is not well known, as it is kept private and pieces are rarely loaned for public exhibitions.