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11th Nazi-Looted Artwork Returned to Heirs of Jewish Cabaret Performer Killed in Holocaust
A drawing by Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele became on Friday the 11th artwork returned to the family of Fritz Grünbaum, an Austrian-Jewish cabaret performer whose art collection was stolen by the Nazis before he was killed in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and US Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo of Homeland Security Investigations announced in New York City on Friday the return of “Seated Nude Woman, front view” by Schiele. The drawing was seized by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office earlier this year from the estate of Gustav “Gus” Papanek. The artwork from 1918 is believed to depict Schiele’s wife.
Ernst and Helene Papanek, Austrian Jews who fled Nazi persecution in 1938 and emigrated to the United States in 1940, purchased the artwork in 1961 not knowing that it had been stolen from Grünbaum. They gave the drawing as a gift to their son, Gus, in 1969 and it remained in his estate until the latter’s death in 2022. The Papanek family fully cooperated with the District Attorney’s office to return the drawing, and it was given to the Grünbaum family at a ceremony on Friday in New York that was attended by members of both families.
“We believe that returning the drawing is the right thing to do,” said the Papanek family. “The experience of the two families serves as yet another reminder of the evil and brutality of the Nazi regime.”
“The recovery of this important artwork — stolen from a prominent Jewish critic of Adolf Hitler — sends a message to the world that crime does not pay and that the law enforcement community in New York has not forgotten the dark lessons of World War II,” said Timothy Reif, Grünbaum’s relative.
Grünbaum was a writer, director, comedian, and film and radio star in Austria whose art collection comprised of hundreds of pieces, including more than 80 works by Schiele. He was arrested by the Nazis in 1938 after their annexation of Austria and forced to give his wife power of attorney. She was later coerced to hand over her husband’s entire art collection to Nazi officials. Many of the confiscated works were auctioned or sold abroad to finance the Nazi Party. Grünbaum died in the Dachau concentration camp in Germany in 1941, and his wife was killed a year later in another Nazi concentration camp.
In September 2023, the District Attorney’s Office returned seven Schiele artworks to Grünbaum heirs from the Museum of Modern Art; The Ronald Lauder Collection; The Morgan Library; The Santa Barbara Museum of Art; and the Vally Sabarsky Trust in Manhattan. Another artwork was returned voluntarily by the collector Michael Lesh directly to Grünbaum’s family in October 2023, and in January 2024, two more artworks were returned — from the Allen Museum of Art at Oberlin College and the Carnegie Museum of Art.
The Schiele drawing “Russian War Prisoner” remains seized in place at the Art Institute of Chicago, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The post 11th Nazi-Looted Artwork Returned to Heirs of Jewish Cabaret Performer Killed in Holocaust first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Exclusive: Israeli Officials Harshly Critical of Steve Witkoff’s Influence on US Policy on Gaza, Iran, i24NEWS Told
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Amid growing disagreements with the Trump administration over the composition of the Board of Peace for Gaza and the question of a strike on Iran, officials in Israel point to a key figure behind decisions seen as running counter to Israeli interests: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The officials mention sustained dissatisfaction with Witkoff. Sources close to the PM Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Saturday evening: “For several months now, the feeling has been that envoy Steve Witkoff has strong ties, for his own reasons, across the Middle East, and that at times the Israeli interest does not truly prevail in his decision-making.”
This criticism relates both to the proposed inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in Gaza’s governing bodies and to the Iranian threat. A senior Israeli official put it bluntly: “If it turns out that he is among those blocking a strike on Iran, that is far more than a coincidence.”
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EU Warns of Downward Spiral After Trump Threatens Tariffs Over Greenland
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
European Union leaders on Saturday warned of a “dangerous downward spiral” over US President Donald Trump‘s vow to implement increasing tariffs on European allies until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said tariffs would hurt prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, while distracting the EU from its “core task” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies,” Kallas said on X.
“Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to the tariff threat.
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Israel Says US Gaza Executive Board Composition Against Its Policy
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians shelter at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer/File Photo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to government policy.
It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
The board, unveiled by the White House on Friday, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has repeatedly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza.
Other members of the executive board include Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; an Israeli‑Cypriot billionaire; and a minister from the United Arab Emirates, which established relations with Israel in 2020.
Washington this week also announced the start of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s plan, announced in September, to end the war in Gaza. This includes creating a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave.
The first members of the so-called Board of Peace – to be chaired by Trump and tasked with supervising Gaza’s temporary governance – were also named. Members include Rubio, billionaire developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.