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Univ.Prof. Dr. Ernst Bacher

Bundesdenkmalamt

Schweizerhof, Säulenstiege Hofburg

A-1010 Wien

Re: Estate

Sehr geehrte Dr. Bacher:

 Thank you very much for your February 16, 1999 letter. 

 Since my last letter to you, I have read about Bundesminister Gehrer's report to the Nationalrat, which concluded that "Der Konnex der Überlassung der Klimt-Bilder an die Österreichische Galerie mit der Erteilung von Ausfuhrbewilligung ist evident."

 We completely agree with that conclusion and thank you and your committee (especially Monika Mayer and Dr. Robert Holzbauer) for the fine work you all have done. It is absolutely clear from the documentation we have assembled that the heirs' attorney, Dr. Rinesch, decided to give up his clients' right to recover five of six Klimt paintings in the hope that he would thus persuade the Bundesdenkmalamt to release for export other artworks.  It is therefore also our conclusion that these five Klimt paintings 1) fall squarely under the new legislation and must be returned to the heirs. 2)

 In case there is any doubt that the heirs actually gave up anything in connection with their request for export permits, we have obtained a detailed analysis of the inheritance question from an Austrian legal expert, Dr. Andreas Lintl, who has concluded:

Zusammenfassend ist daher festzustellen, daß auf Basis der Ergebnisse und der im Verlassenschaftsverfahren nach Adele Bloch-Bauer abgegebenen Erklärungen eine rechtswirksame Verpflichtung der Erben nach Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, die Klimt Bilder an die Österreichische Galerie zu übergeben, nicht bestanden hat.

The acknowledgment of Adele Bloch-Bauer's will by the heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer in April, 1948 was therefore the same as if they had made a gift of the paintings to the Austrian Gallery. 3) Indeed, the acknowledgment was a gift, and was recognized as such by the Austrian Gallery.

 I look forward to seeing your report to the Beirat in the very near future. I have yet to receive any official list of the artworks from the Bloch-Bauer collection that have been located in the Austrian federal museums. Therefore, other than what I have read in the newspapers about the Klimt paintings, I am still unaware of what other artworks (porcelain, Klimt drawings, other paintings and drawings) have been located.

 I am also preparing to send you a package of materials relating to the heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, so that there will be no need to delay the Beirat's decision. Of the three heirs named in Ferdinand's last will, only Maria Altmann is still alive.  (You will meet her on Tuesday.) The other heirs are the two children of Maria's sister, Luise (Dr. Nelly Auersperg and Dr. Francis Gutmann) and the son and nephew of Maria's brother Robert (George Bentley and Trevor Mantle). As you know, I represent all of the heirs besides Dr. Auersperg, who is representing herself.

 I understand that the news that the Klimt paintings will have to be returned has caused a tremendous amount of concern in Austria.  I trust and hope that your office's scientific approach will prevail over those who would try for political reasons to evade the requirements of the new law.  There is a great danger, I feel, that despite the new law, Austria will revert to its post-war tactics of raising any possible legal argument against restitution of these valuable artworks.  Of course, legal arguments can always be made (even when one is defending an impossible position), but the spirit of the new law mandates a far different, more generous approach than what occurred in the past. I hope that you and your colleagues will avoid the political pressures and continue to follow that approach in your report to the Beirat.

 I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

     Very truly yours,

     E. Randol Schoenberg

cc:  Sektionsleiter Dr. Rudolf Wran

  Mrs. Maria Altmann

 1)
Dr. Rinesch had asked for three of the paintings (the two portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer and Apfelbaum) to be returned to the heirs in his January 19, 1948 letter to the Austrian Gallery, which request was improperly refused by the Austrian Gallery, leading to Dr. Rinsech's agreement to donate the paintings in April, 1948.  The Städtische Sammlung had already agreed to return the painting Birkenwald to the heirs on December 3, 1947. One painting, Häuser in Unterach am Attersee, was located in Karl Bloch-Bauer's apartment. The sixth painting, Schloss Kammer am Attersee, was donated to the Austrian Gallery by Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer in 1936, and Dr. Rinesch helped the Austrian Gallery negotiate the return of this painting from Gustav Uccicky.  A seventh painting, the portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl, was not donated to the Austrian Gallery by the heirs, but was never restituted and subsequently came into the possession of the Austrian Gallery.

2)
The Austrian Gallery should be entitled to keep Schloss Kammer am Attersee.  However, the Amalie Zuckerkandl portrait should probably also be returned under the second prong of the new law since it was never properly restituted to the heirs after the War.

3)
The heirs' only alternative in 1948 would have been to enter a costly and lengthy legal battle with the Austrian Gallery (see Dr. Garzarolli's April 1, 1948 letter to the Finanzprokurator Dr. Glatz), in which case the Austrian Gallery and the Bundesdenkmalamt would have carried out their tactic of a "verzörgernde Behandlung" with respect to the request for export permits of other paintings (see Dr. Garzarolli's April 2, 1948 letter to Dr. Demus).  Even if the heirs had ultimately prevailed in asserting their legal right to inherit and recover the Klimt paintings (as Dr. Lintl has concluded they should have), they would then have been prevented from exporting the paintings and would have eventually been forced to donate them back to the Austrian Gallery in exchange for export permits for other artworks.  Given this impossible situation, it is no wonder that Dr. Rinesch agreed in the first instance that the heirs would acknowledge the will of Adele Bloch-Bauer so that he could obtain the much needed export permits for other paintings.

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