May 1, 2006
More on the Goudstikker case
For the moment, they are still on the walls or in the vaults. The Rembrandts, Van Dycks, Ruysdaels and Cranachs continue to draw visitors to Holland's greatest museums and galleries.What is especially interesting is the broader story of what happened in the occupied Netherlands:But not for much longer. Under a landmark ruling by the Dutch government, more than 200 pieces, including scores of major masterpieces tracked down by a team of top art detectives, will be stripped from cultural institutions and returned to the family of Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish collector and dealer who died during the Second World War.
A new book claiming Dutch people had known about mass deportation and extermination of Jews has provoked a bitter controversy. 'There was some resistance [to the German occupation] of course, and many can be justly proud of what they did,' said Ies Vuysje, the author. 'But most people just got on with their lives and did nothing, despite knowing what was going on.'This article, in the Observer, also notes the shameful treatment of Goudstikker's widow by the postwar Dutch government, and similar treatment of returning Jews not allowed back into their own houses -- as well as the fact that the death rate of Jews in occupied Holland was one of the highest in Europe, around 90%.
Posted by David on May 1, 2006 11:58 AM
I have often wondered if there isn't a point at which cultural works (music, painting, literature especially) belong to humanity as a whole, not to an individual or an institution. They are held by these people/groups in trust for all of mankind.
Posted by: Sarah on May 1, 2006 6:49 PM
Well,... isn't it about time all these art people of today who feel a little guilty for their Dutch race, to turn these painting back over to their rightful owners after all these years. Where was the compassion then that they should have had when this was going on and just after it was over? That was the time when they really should have felt guilty, and had a little more compassion and feelings for humanity,... for their fellow human beings and neighbors. Everything should have been reconciled then, on their return after this devastating world happening.
It is all about a respectable game amongst them that they are all now playing, and if not for the laws and findings,.. of all the proof by the art detectives, the art works would remain hanging exactly where they are. Now the rightful plundering of these supposed owners will happen, and be stripped from their walls,... returned to their rightful owners, only a little more courteously.
Kind regard
Bob Miller---vanrijngo.com
Posted by: Bob--vanrijngo on May 7, 2006 1:23 PM
cronaca.com