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Tacheles Emptied and Scheduled for Destruction—End of the Original Occupy Movement

Posted by Nicholas O'Donnell on March 23, 2012 at 12:03 PM

I can’t let today’s news about the Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin go unremarked. A center for art and culture since the fall of the Berlin Wall, it has apparently ordered vacated, with occupants carried out by force. Ironically, it’s really about a story about art and the absence of a legal framework, a building in the hottest part of the hottest city in Europe that no one seemed to own.

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Topics: Berlin, Tacheles, Berlin Wall, DDR, Oranienburger Strasse, Occupy Wall Street

Poster Collection Seized by Nazis Ordered Returned by German High Court

Posted by Nicholas O'Donnell on March 16, 2012 at 6:07 AM

Catherine Hickley of Bloomberg reports today from Berlin about a court-ordered return of more than 4,000 once owned by Hans Sachs, a Jewish dentist chased out of Nazi Germany. The Bundesgerichtshof (BGH) is Germany’s highest civil court, and handed down the decision.

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Topics: Berlin, Jules Cheret, Josef Goebbels, Lucian Bernhard, Catherine Hickley, Hans Sachs, Bloomberg, Sachsenhausen, Bundesgerichtshof, Ludwig Hohlwein, Deutches Historisches Museum, Collections, Restitution, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, World War II, BGH, Kristallnacht

Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin Returns Schmidt-Rotluff Paintings to Graetz Heirs

Posted by Nicholas O'Donnell on November 23, 2011 at 4:54 AM

The regional government of Berlin has decided to return two paintings by German Expressionist Karl Schmidt-Rotluff to the heirs of the paintings’ one-time owner (article in German).

As reported by Catherine Hickley of Bloomberg in Berlin, the paintings, a 1920 self-portrait and a 1910 landscape entitled “Farm in Dangast” once belonged to Robert Graetz, a businessman from Berlin who was deported to Poland in 1942. After a claim by Graetz’s grandson Roberto (Graetz), a government panel headed by Jutta Limbach (a former constitutional judge) concluded that the loss was almost certainly the product of persecution and should be returned. Berlin Culture Secretary Andre Schmitz has now said that the government will follow the panel’s recommendation.

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Topics: Berlin, Roberto Graetz, Catherine Hickley, Karl Schmidt-Rotluff, Robert Graetz, Neue Nationalgalerie, Restitution, Farm in Dangast, Linz, Lane Faison, World War II, degenerate art, German Expressionism, Jutta Limbach, Washington Principles, Berlin Culture Secretary, Andre Schmitz

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About the Blog


The Art Law Report provides timely updates and commentary on legal issues in the museum and visual arts communities. It is authored by Nicholas M. O'Donnell, partner in our Art & Museum Law Practice.

The material on this site is for general information only and is not legal advice. No liability is accepted for any loss or damage which may result from reliance on it. Always consult a qualified lawyer about a specific legal problem.

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