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In emotional ceremony, heirs to ‘Cabaret’ inspiration Fritz Grünbaum take back 7 Egon Schiele works stolen by the Nazis
(JTA) — They had seen the pictures before, in the collections of the museums that owned them until earlier this year. But the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, a Viennese cabaret performer killed in the Holocaust, said the works had conveyed a powerful effect now that they had been restored to Grünbaum’s estate.
“When viewing these artworks, imagine Fritz and Elisabeth in their lively Vienna apartment, singing, dancing, cracking jokes,” Timothy Reif, a distant relative, said in his remarks during a somber ceremony in downtown Manhattan Wednesday afternoon. He was referring to Grünbaum’s wife, who is presumed to have been killed by the Nazis in 1942. “Remembering their lives defeats Hitler’s plan to erase this brave Jewish man’s name from the book of history.”
Reif and other heirs and co-executors had been called to the ceremony to receive seven pieces by the 20th-century Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele that were part of Grünbaum’s vast art collection. They were seized earlier this year from a number of prestigious museums and collections by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, as part of an effort to repatriate art stolen by the Nazis.
“On behalf of my entire family, I offer our deep gratitude to each of you here today, for all you are doing and have done for the cause of justice,” Reif said.
Grünbaum was killed in the Dachau concentration camp in 1941, and the significance of the ceremony’s timing, during the Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, was apparent to the attendees.
“It’s not lost on me where we are on the calendar that our ceremony coincides with the Jewish High Holidays, the time of reflection,” Bragg said to a room of about 100 attendees Wednesday afternoon. “This ceremony has reminded me that despite the horrors of the tragic destruction caused by the Nazis, it is never too late to teach the world about incredible people like Mr. Grünbaum.”
Onlookers view works by Egon Schiele from Fritz Grünbaum’s extensive private collection, now returned to his heirs in a ceremony in New York on Sep. 20, 2023. (Jackie Hajdenberg)
David Frankel, one of the co-executors of Grünbaum’s estate, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the timing “heightens the sense of awe surrounding all of this and the emotional investment that the DA’s office and assistant DA [Matthew] Bogdanos has put into this.”
On Thursday, Grünbaum’s heirs will give the works to Christie’s, which will auction them for charity later this year. The profits are set to go to artists in underserved communities, similar to a previous auction of restituted artworks that Grünbaum’s estate organized in the fall of 2022.
Grünbaum was said to be the inspiration for the master of ceremonies character in the Broadway musical and subsequent film “Cabaret.” In addition to his work as a comedian, librettist, film and radio star, Grünbaum was also known for his political activity and outspoken opposition to antisemitism. In 1910, he famously slapped an Austrian officer after the officer made antisemitic remarks, and then was challenged to a duel in which he was injured. He later became a vocal critic of the Nazis in a Viennese daily newspaper.
“They should remember him as not only as a great artist, but also an anti-Nazi,” Frankel said. “Someone who stands up for human rights and was courageous enough to risk his life to do it.”
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The post In emotional ceremony, heirs to ‘Cabaret’ inspiration Fritz Grünbaum take back 7 Egon Schiele works stolen by the Nazis appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Treasure Trove: How a Polish-Jewish artist told Canadians about the horrors of Nazi Germany and produced beautiful illustrations
Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) was a Polish-Jewish artist whose work reflected the historic times he lived: the two world wars, the rise of totalitarianism in Europe and the birth of the State of Israel. In 1940, with the support of the British government and the Polish government-in-exile, he visited Canada to popularize the struggle against Nazism. […]
The post Treasure Trove: How a Polish-Jewish artist told Canadians about the horrors of Nazi Germany and produced beautiful illustrations appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Biden hits Fundraising Trail in Show of Strength after Dismal Debate Performance
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., June 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
President Joe Biden embarks on a series of fundraising events across two states on Saturday as he works to stamp out a crisis of confidence in his re-election campaign following a feeble debate performance that dismayed his fellow Democrats.
Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will visit the upscale New York beach enclave known as the Hamptons for a campaign fundraiser hosted by hedge-fund billionaire Barry Rosentein. Later in the day, he will travel to New Jersey for a fundraiser hosted by wealthy New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat.
Fellow hedge-fund founder Eric Mindich and his Tony Award-winning producer wife Stacey, celebrity couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, and actor Michael J. Fox are all listed as members of the host committee at the New York event, according to an invitation seen by Reuters.
Biden told a rally in North Carolina on Friday he intended to defeat Republican rival Donald Trump in the November presidential election, giving no sign he would heed calls from Democrats who want him to drop out of the race.
Biden‘s verbal stumbles and occasionally meandering responses during Thursday night’s debate heightened voter concerns that the 81-year-old might not be fit to serve another four-year term.
The Biden campaign on Saturday boasted it had raised more than $27 million between debate day through Friday evening, but questions remain about whether the debate performance will hurt fundraising, at least in the short term.
The post Biden hits Fundraising Trail in Show of Strength after Dismal Debate Performance first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Arab League Rescinds the Classification of Hezbollah as a Terrorist Group
Mourners carry a coffin during the funeral of Wissam Tawil, a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces who according to Lebanese security sources was killed during an Israeli strike on south Lebanon, in Khirbet Selm, Lebanon, Jan. 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher
i24 News – The Arab League no longer defines Hezbollah as a proscribed terrorist group, an official said on Saturday.
Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shiite militia and a proxy of the Islamic regime in Iran, boasts the world’s largest rocket arsenal of any non-state actor. It is animated by the antisemitic ideology of jihad and is committed to the destruction of Israel.
“In earlier Arab League decisions, Hezbollah was designated as a terrorist organization, and this designation was reflected in the resolutions,” Hossam Zaki, the assistant secretary-general of the Arab League, was quoted in Arab media as saying.
“The League’s member states concurred that the labeling of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization should no longer be employed,” Zaki said, adding that the regional body “does not maintain terrorist lists and does not actively seek to designate entities in such a manner.”
Hezbollah has unleashed numerous rockets, mortars and drones on northern Israel in the past eight months starting on October 8, a day after the Jewish state suffered the worst antisemitic massacre since the Holocaust at the hands of the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas.
The post Arab League Rescinds the Classification of Hezbollah as a Terrorist Group first appeared on Algemeiner.com.