72. But Wran and the other committee members had other plans. Most of them were greatly distressed by the prospect of returning these icons of Austrian art to Ferdinand’s heirs. The Rothschild collection, while certainly very valuable, did not include any significant Austrian artworks. As valuable as it was, the entire Rothschild collection, which was auctioned off in July 1999 for $90 million, was probably worth only a little more than half as much in today’s market as Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer’s Klimt paintings that are at the core of the Klimt collection at the AUSTRIAN GALLERY, Vienna’s most popular museum. Certainly in terms of their importance to Austria, Ferdinand’s Klimt paintings are in a class by themselves.
73. Anticipating possible opposition from the very conservative committee, Schoenberg obtained an opinion from an Austrian expert on probate and estate law, Dr. Andreas Lintl, on the significance of Adele’s will. Lintl concluded (as had Gustav Bloch-Bauer in 1948 and Garzarolli and Dr. Rinesch in 1948) that the statements in Adele’s will were of no legal consequence and that the heirs had not been required to give the paintings to the AUSTRIAN GALLERY. This meant that the paintings were donated solely in exchange for export permits and would have to be returned under the new restitution law. Schoenberg sent the opinion to Wran.
74. In March, Bacher’s research committee submitted a report on the Bloch-Bauer collection to Wran’s committee, and sent a copy to Schoenberg. The report omitted key documents, gave only a partial view of the story, and made several incorrect conclusions. For example, the report omitted the crucial portions of Dr. Garzarolli’s March 8, 1948 letter to Dr. Grimschitz. Schoenberg wrote to Wran and Bacher correcting the report and asked that his letter and further documents be shown to Wran’s committee. Unbeknownst to Schoenberg, this request was not honored and the rest of the committee was forced to rely on an incomplete and misleading report.
75. Schoenberg met with Wran in late April, but Wran could not discuss the specifics of the case. Wran forced the decision on the Bloch-Bauer collection to be pushed off by the committee until the end of June. In the meantime, he and one of his compatriots on the committee, Manfred Kremser, a government attorney, drafted a legal opinion contrary to the one submitted by the heirs. Not knowing the conclusions of the government attorney’s opinion, Schoenberg requested by telephone and in writing that he be given an opportunity to read any contrary opinion and to address the committee and respond to any arguments made against restitution. This request was refused by Wran and Kremser. Having heard from the press that opposition was brewing, but in the dark as to what Kremser had written, Schoenberg submitted a further opinion from Lintl again concluding that neither Ferdinand, nor his heirs, were legally required to donate the paintings to the AUSTRIAN GALLERY.
