via facsimile: 011-43-1-531-20-3609/3699

Sektionsleiter Dr. Rudolf Wran
Bundesministerium für Unterricht
und kulturelle Angelegenheiten
Minoritenplatz 5
A-1014 Vienna, Austria

Dr. Freund
Bundesministerium für Unterricht
und kulturelle Angelegenheiten
Schreyvogelgasse 2
A-1014 Vienna, Austria

Re:  Bloch-Bauer Estate

Dear Dr. Wran and Dr. Freund:

 Thank you for your fax dated March 16, 1999 which I received this morning.

 I will try to obtain certified copies of the inheritance documents related to the heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer.  In the meantime, I hope you have obtained copies of these documents, which I sent to Dr. Bacher.  If not, please let me know and I will send you extra copies by express mail for you and your legal expert to review while we are waiting for the certified copies to arrive. 

 I should be able to get certified copies of the documents from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada related to the wills of two of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer's heirs, Luise Gattin and Robert Bentley, and of Robert's second wife Hylda Bentley, as well as an original copy of the agreement between George Bentley and Trevor Mantle.  However, I am not certain whether we will be able to obtain certified copies from the Bezirksgericht Zürich related to Ferdinand's October 22, 1945 will filed January 7, 1946 and the May 23, 1947 Erbbescheinigung. Nevertheless, we will certainly try to obtain certified copies of these documents, if the originals still exist. Perhaps you are also in a position to help us obtain these documents.  In any case, we (and Dr. Bacher) have photocopies of these older documents which are not in dispute.

 Please advise me whether you need any further documents related to the Bloch-Bauer estate.  I still have not received from you a list of items from the Bloch-Bauer collection that have been identified in the possession of the federal museums. Nor have we received any written report by Dr. Bacher and the Bundesdenkmalamt with regard to these items.  I would appreciate receiving this information at your earliest convenience.

 I understand that Mrs. Altmann had a very nice meeting with Minister Gehrer last week.  I also look forward to meeting with you and Dr. Bacher at some point. I am currently hoping to be able to come to Vienna before the next meeting of the Beirat, which I understand is scheduled for May 10, 1999.  Perhaps we can arrange to meet then.  In the meantime, I hope that we will continue to hear from you and Dr. Bacher "via fax."

 Please forgive me for writing in English. You may of course continue to write me in German, which I can read and speak quite well. If after today's meeting there are any questions at all which the Beirat (or your legal expert) has concerning the Bloch-Bauer estate, please let me know and I will do my best to help answer them. I would also very much like to know if you expect a final decision to be made on May 10, 1999, or whether we can expect any further continuances.  If you think it would be helpful for me to attend the next Beirat meeting, I could certainly try to arrange that.

 Thank you again for your cooperation.

   Very truly yours,

   E. Randol Schoenberg

cc:    Maria Altmann
         Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ernst Bacher

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