Chicago Man Claims Nazi Looted Artwork
debby
Chicago man claims Nazi-looted artwork
Vietnam veteran will keep collection of 30 paintings as tribute to
Holocaust victims
December 31, 2001
CHICAGO (AP) - A Chicago-area Vietnam veteran and high school dropout
could make millions on a rare art collection stolen from his great-great uncle
during the Nazi Holocaust.
Rather than cashing in on his relations, though, Gerald McDonald of Lyons
said he just wants to keep the collection of 30 paintings as a tribute to war
and Holocaust victims.
"How do you set a price on something that represents someone else’s
suffering?" McDonald said.
The chemical plant worker grew up hearing tales of a stolen art collection,
but his family in America denied any Jewish ancestry and he began to doubt
the collection’s existence. Then a Czech Republic law aimed at tracking down
descendants of Jews who lost property during World War II set off a chain of
events that led to Chicago.
McDonald’s great-great uncle, lawyer and insurance company executive Emil
Freund, was expelled from Prague during the Nazi occupation and died in a
Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland, in 1942. The Nazis kept his French paintings in
a warehouse, and the communist government of Czechoslovakia later claimed
them.
Two of Freund’s sisters who had moved to Chicago by the early 1920s
attempted to retrieve the paintings from postwar Czechoslovakia with no
luck. One of them, McDonald’s great-great grandmother, Berta Sieben, wrote
an undated letter to the American ambassador in Prague: "Dr. Emil Freund . .
. was imprisoned and subsequently died after mistreatment by the Germans,"
she wrote. She urged the government to return Freund’s furniture,
belongings and "a rare collection of oil paintings."
McDonald now has a copy of that letter. But for years his family had given
up on retrieving the collection, and eventually it was forgotten. Then the
post-communist Czech government ordered The Jewish Museum in Prague to
find heirs to the former owners of stolen art.
Guessing that some of Freund’s relatives might have settled among Chicago’s
large Czech population, the museum contacted the Chicago Tribune seeking
help. The newspaper searched public records and death announcements to
create a family tree that led to McDonald as the only identified surviving heir.
Now, the museum will take up to a year to verify McDonald’s family
connection and search for other possible living heirs.
The paintings include Andre Derain’s "Head of a Young Woman" (c. 1920),
Paul Signac’s "Riverboat on the Seine" (1901) and Charles Dufresne’s "Three
nudes in a Garden" (1924). There are also paintings by noted Czech artists,
including Jan Bauch, Zdenek Rykr and Emil Filla.
The paintings are mostly portraits and landscapes. "They’re precisely the kind
of works the Nazis loved to steal, in that they’re pretty pictures and not
avant-garde. They’re relatively conservative works," said Paul Gray, a
Chicago art dealer.
Some are worth about $20,000, but others are expected to fetch more than
$1 million.
The collection could be a bonanza for McDonald, who dropped out of
Downers Grove High School at age 14 and got his mother’s written permission
to enlist in the Navy three years later in 1966. He completed two tours of
duty on a medical boat on the eastern coast and canals of South Vietnam.
The carnage he saw in Vietnam caused him to re-evaluate his life, and he
said he immersed himself in books and took and passed his high school
equivalency test.
McDonald contracted hepatitis while in the military and said the war left him
"lost and confused." He drifted between jobs and girlfriends, was married
three times and has a 28-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.
He went on to work more than 27 years at Universal Oil Products and earned
an associate’s degree from Morton College in Cicero. But his hepatitis began
to sap his energy and damage his liver, and he has been unable to work for
nearly a year. He is waiting for a liver transplant.
The dollar figures attached to the collection are foreign to McDonald. "I just
spent $72 on a fish tank, and I was feeling guilty about it," he said.
Still, he said his connection to Freund is more important to him than the
money, especially "where I am now in my life, because I don’t know how
much longer I have to be healthy. I would like to see these artworks of his, if
I can."
He said he hopes to keep the collection together as a tribute to Freund’s
sacrifice.
Czech museum curator Michaela Hajkova said the museum would be happy to
return the paintings if his lineage checks out. nion | Entertainment | Business | Lifestyles | Classifieds | Shop | Search
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©, Peoria Journal Star
Chicago man claims Nazi-looted artwork
Vietnam veteran will keep collection of 30 paintings as tribute to
Holocaust victims
December 31, 2001
CHICAGO (AP) - A Chicago-area Vietnam veteran and high school dropout
could make millions on a rare art collection stolen from his great-great uncle
during the Nazi Holocaust.
Rather than cashing in on his relations, though, Gerald McDonald of Lyons
said he just wants to keep the collection of 30 paintings as a tribute to war
and Holocaust victims.
"How do you set a price on something that represents someone else’s
suffering?" McDonald said.
The chemical plant worker grew up hearing tales of a stolen art collection,
but his family in America denied any Jewish ancestry and he began to doubt
the collection’s existence. Then a Czech Republic law aimed at tracking down
descendants of Jews who lost property during World War II set off a chain of
events that led to Chicago.
McDonald’s great-great uncle, lawyer and insurance company executive Emil
Freund, was expelled from Prague during the Nazi occupation and died in a
Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland, in 1942. The Nazis kept his French paintings in
a warehouse, and the communist government of Czechoslovakia later claimed
them.
Two of Freund’s sisters who had moved to Chicago by the early 1920s
attempted to retrieve the paintings from postwar Czechoslovakia with no
luck. One of them, McDonald’s great-great grandmother, Berta Sieben, wrote
an undated letter to the American ambassador in Prague: "Dr. Emil Freund . .
. was imprisoned and subsequently died after mistreatment by the Germans,"
she wrote. She urged the government to return Freund’s furniture,
belongings and "a rare collection of oil paintings."
McDonald now has a copy of that letter. But for years his family had given
up on retrieving the collection, and eventually it was forgotten. Then the
post-communist Czech government ordered The Jewish Museum in Prague to
find heirs to the former owners of stolen art.
Guessing that some of Freund’s relatives might have settled among Chicago’s
large Czech population, the museum contacted the Chicago Tribune seeking
help. The newspaper searched public records and death announcements to
create a family tree that led to McDonald as the only identified surviving heir.
Now, the museum will take up to a year to verify McDonald’s family
connection and search for other possible living heirs.
The paintings include Andre Derain’s "Head of a Young Woman" (c. 1920),
Paul Signac’s "Riverboat on the Seine" (1901) and Charles Dufresne’s "Three
nudes in a Garden" (1924). There are also paintings by noted Czech artists,
including Jan Bauch, Zdenek Rykr and Emil Filla.
The paintings are mostly portraits and landscapes. "They’re precisely the kind
of works the Nazis loved to steal, in that they’re pretty pictures and not
avant-garde. They’re relatively conservative works," said Paul Gray, a
Chicago art dealer.
Some are worth about $20,000, but others are expected to fetch more than
$1 million.
The collection could be a bonanza for McDonald, who dropped out of
Downers Grove High School at age 14 and got his mother’s written permission
to enlist in the Navy three years later in 1966. He completed two tours of
duty on a medical boat on the eastern coast and canals of South Vietnam.
The carnage he saw in Vietnam caused him to re-evaluate his life, and he
said he immersed himself in books and took and passed his high school
equivalency test.
McDonald contracted hepatitis while in the military and said the war left him
"lost and confused." He drifted between jobs and girlfriends, was married
three times and has a 28-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.
He went on to work more than 27 years at Universal Oil Products and earned
an associate’s degree from Morton College in Cicero. But his hepatitis began
to sap his energy and damage his liver, and he has been unable to work for
nearly a year. He is waiting for a liver transplant.
The dollar figures attached to the collection are foreign to McDonald. "I just
spent $72 on a fish tank, and I was feeling guilty about it," he said.
Still, he said his connection to Freund is more important to him than the
money, especially "where I am now in my life, because I don’t know how
much longer I have to be healthy. I would like to see these artworks of his, if
I can."
He said he hopes to keep the collection together as a tribute to Freund’s
sacrifice.
Czech museum curator Michaela Hajkova said the museum would be happy to
return the paintings if his lineage checks out.
nan
> Chicago man claims Nazi-looted artwork
Dear Debbie,
Reading this story has wrung-out some tears on my keyboard. Thanks.
Best, from Nan
Vietnam veteran will keep collection of 30 paintings as tribute to
> Holocaust victims
>
> December 31, 2001
>
> CHICAGO (AP) - A Chicago-area Vietnam veteran and high school dropout
> could make millions on a rare art collection stolen from his great-great uncle
> during the Nazi Holocaust.
>
> Rather than cashing in on his relations, though, Gerald McDonald of Lyons
> said he just wants to keep the collection of 30 paintings as a tribute to war
> and Holocaust victims.
>
> "How do you set a price on something that represents someone else’s
> suffering?" McDonald said.
>
> The chemical plant worker grew up hearing tales of a stolen art collection,
> but his family in America denied any Jewish ancestry and he began to doubt
> the collection’s existence. Then a Czech Republic law aimed at tracking down
> descendants of Jews who lost property during World War II set off a chain of
> events that led to Chicago.
>
> McDonald’s great-great uncle, lawyer and insurance company executive Emil
> Freund, was expelled from Prague during the Nazi occupation and died in a
> Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland, in 1942. The Nazis kept his French paintings in
> a warehouse, and the communist government of Czechoslovakia later claimed
> them.
>
> Two of Freund’s sisters who had moved to Chicago by the early 1920s
> attempted to retrieve the paintings from postwar Czechoslovakia with no
> luck. One of them, McDonald’s great-great grandmother, Berta Sieben, wrote
> an undated letter to the American ambassador in Prague: "Dr. Emil Freund . .
> . was imprisoned and subsequently died after mistreatment by the Germans,"
> she wrote. She urged the government to return Freund’s furniture,
> belongings and "a rare collection of oil paintings."
>
> McDonald now has a copy of that letter. But for years his family had given
> up on retrieving the collection, and eventually it was forgotten. Then the
> post-communist Czech government ordered The Jewish Museum in Prague to
> find heirs to the former owners of stolen art.
>
> Guessing that some of Freund’s relatives might have settled among Chicago’s
> large Czech population, the museum contacted the Chicago Tribune seeking
> help. The newspaper searched public records and death announcements to
> create a family tree that led to McDonald as the only identified surviving heir.
>
> Now, the museum will take up to a year to verify McDonald’s family
> connection and search for other possible living heirs.
>
> The paintings include Andre Derain’s "Head of a Young Woman" (c. 1920),
> Paul Signac’s "Riverboat on the Seine" (1901) and Charles Dufresne’s "Three
> nudes in a Garden" (1924). There are also paintings by noted Czech artists,
> including Jan Bauch, Zdenek Rykr and Emil Filla.
>
> The paintings are mostly portraits and landscapes. "They’re precisely the kind
> of works the Nazis loved to steal, in that they’re pretty pictures and not
> avant-garde. They’re relatively conservative works," said Paul Gray, a
> Chicago art dealer.
>
> Some are worth about $20,000, but others are expected to fetch more than
> $1 million.
>
> The collection could be a bonanza for McDonald, who dropped out of
> Downers Grove High School at age 14 and got his mother’s written permission
> to enlist in the Navy three years later in 1966. He completed two tours of
> duty on a medical boat on the eastern coast and canals of South Vietnam.
>
> The carnage he saw in Vietnam caused him to re-evaluate his life, and he
> said he immersed himself in books and took and passed his high school
> equivalency test.
>
> McDonald contracted hepatitis while in the military and said the war left him
> "lost and confused." He drifted between jobs and girlfriends, was married
> three times and has a 28-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.
>
> He went on to work more than 27 years at Universal Oil Products and earned
> an associate’s degree from Morton College in Cicero. But his hepatitis began
> to sap his energy and damage his liver, and he has been unable to work for
> nearly a year. He is waiting for a liver transplant.
>
> The dollar figures attached to the collection are foreign to McDonald. "I just
> spent $72 on a fish tank, and I was feeling guilty about it," he said.
>
> Still, he said his connection to Freund is more important to him than the
> money, especially "where I am now in my life, because I don’t know how
> much longer I have to be healthy. I would like to see these artworks of his, if
> I can."
>
> He said he hopes to keep the collection together as a tribute to Freund’s
> "How do you set a price on something that represents someone else’s
> suffering?" McDonald said.
>
> The chemical plant worker grew up hearing tales of a stolen art collection,
> but his family in America denied any Jewish ancestry and he began to doubt
> the collection’s existence. Then a Czech Republic law aimed at tracking down
> descendants of Jews who lost property during World War II set off a chain of
> events that led to Chicago.
>
> McDonald’s great-great uncle, lawyer and insurance company executive Emil
> Freund, was expelled from Prague during the Nazi occupation and died in a
> Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland, in 1942. The Nazis kept his French paintings in
> a warehouse, and the communist government of Czechoslovakia later claimed
> them.
>
> Two of Freund’s sisters who had moved to Chicago by the early 1920s
> attempted to retrieve the paintings from postwar Czechoslovakia with no
> luck. One of them, McDonald’s great-great grandmother, Berta Sieben, wrote
> an undated letter to the American ambassador in Prague: "Dr. Emil Freund . .
> . was imprisoned and subsequently died after mistreatment by the Germans,"
> she wrote. She urged the government to return Freund’s furniture,
> belongings and "a rare collection of oil paintings."
>
> McDonald now has a copy of that letter. But for years his family had given
> up on retrieving the collection, and eventually it was forgotten. Then the
> post-communist Czech government ordered The Jewish Museum in Prague to
> find heirs to the former owners of stolen art.
>
> Guessing that some of Freund’s relatives might have settled among Chicago’s
> large Czech population, the museum contacted the Chicago Tribune seeking
> help. The newspaper searched public records and death announcements to
> create a family tree that led to McDonald as the only identified surviving heir.
>
> Now, the museum will take up to a year to verify McDonald’s family
> connection and search for other possible living heirs.
>
> The paintings include Andre Derain’s "Head of a Young Woman" (c. 1920),
> Paul Signac’s "Riverboat on the Seine" (1901) and Charles Dufresne’s "Three
> nudes in a Garden" (1924). There are also paintings by noted Czech artists,
> including Jan Bauch, Zdenek Rykr and Emil Filla.
>
> The paintings are mostly portraits and landscapes. "They’re precisely the kind
> of works the Nazis loved to steal, in that they’re pretty pictures and not
> avant-garde. They’re relatively conservative works," said Paul Gray, a
> Chicago art dealer.
>
> Some are worth about $20,000, but others are expected to fetch more than
> $1 million.
>
> The collection could be a bonanza for McDonald, who dropped out of
> Downers Grove High School at age 14 and got his mother’s written permission
> to enlist in the Navy three years later in 1966. He completed two tours of
> duty on a medical boat on the eastern coast and canals of South Vietnam.
>
> The carnage he saw in Vietnam caused him to re-evaluate his life, and he
> said he immersed himself in books and took and passed his high school
> equivalency test.
>
> McDonald contracted hepatitis while in the military and said the war left him
> "lost and confused." He drifted between jobs and girlfriends, was married
> three times and has a 28-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.
>
> He went on to work more than 27 years at Universal Oil Products and earned
> an associate’s degree from Morton College in Cicero. But his hepatitis began
> to sap his energy and damage his liver, and he has been unable to work for
> nearly a year. He is waiting for a liver transplant.
>
> The dollar figures attached to the collection are foreign to McDonald. "I just
> spent $72 on a fish tank, and I was feeling guilty about it," he said.
>
> Still, he said his connection to Freund is more important to him than the
> money, especially "where I am now in my life, because I don’t know how
> much longer I have to be healthy. I would like to see these artworks of his, if
> I can."
>
> He said he hopes to keep the collection together as a tribute to Freund’s
nan
Dear Debbie,
Reading this story has wrung-out some tears on my keyboard. Thanks.
Best, from Nan
Vietnam veteran will keep collection of 30 paintings as tribute to
> Holocaust victims
>
> December 31, 2001
>
> CHICAGO (AP) - A Chicago-area Vietnam veteran and high school dropout
> could make millions on a rare art collection stolen from his great-great uncle
> during the Nazi Holocaust.
>
> Rather than cashing in on his relations, though, Gerald McDonald of Lyons
> said he just wants to keep the collection of 30 paintings as a tribute to war
> and Holocaust victims.
>
> "How do you set a price on something that represents someone else’s
> suffering?" McDonald said.
>
> The chemical plant worker grew up hearing tales of a stolen art collection,
> but his family in America denied any Jewish ancestry and he began to doubt
> the collection’s existence. Then a Czech Republic law aimed at tracking down
> descendants of Jews who lost property during World War II set off a chain of
> events that led to Chicago.
>
> McDonald’s great-great uncle, lawyer and insurance company executive Emil
> Freund, was expelled from Prague during the Nazi occupation and died in a
> Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland, in 1942. The Nazis kept his French paintings in
> a warehouse, and the communist government of Czechoslovakia later claimed
> them.
>
> Two of Freund’s sisters who had moved to Chicago by the early 1920s
> attempted to retrieve the paintings from postwar Czechoslovakia with no
> luck. One of them, McDonald’s great-great grandmother, Berta Sieben, wrote
> an undated letter to the American ambassador in Prague: "Dr. Emil Freund . .
> . was imprisoned and subsequently died after mistreatment by the Germans,"
> she wrote. She urged the government to return Freund’s furniture,
> belongings and "a rare collection of oil paintings."
>
> McDonald now has a copy of that letter. But for years his family had given
> up on retrieving the collection, and eventually it was forgotten. Then the
> post-communist Czech government ordered The Jewish Museum in Prague to
> find heirs to the former owners of stolen art.
>
> Guessing that some of Freund’s relatives might have settled among Chicago’s
> large Czech population, the museum contacted the Chicago Tribune seeking
> help. The newspaper searched public records and death announcements to
> create a family tree that led to McDonald as the only identified surviving heir.
>
> Now, the museum will take up to a year to verify McDonald’s family
> connection and search for other possible living heirs.
>
> The paintings include Andre Derain’s "Head of a Young Woman" (c. 1920),
> Paul Signac’s "Riverboat on the Seine" (1901) and Charles Dufresne’s "Three
> nudes in a Garden" (1924). There are also paintings by noted Czech artists,
> including Jan Bauch, Zdenek Rykr and Emil Filla.
>
> The paintings are mostly portraits and landscapes. "They’re precisely the kind
> of works the Nazis loved to steal, in that they’re pretty pictures and not
> avant-garde. They’re relatively conservative works," said Paul Gray, a
> Chicago art dealer.
>
> Some are worth about $20,000, but others are expected to fetch more than
> $1 million.
>
> The collection could be a bonanza for McDonald, who dropped out of
> Downers Grove High School at age 14 and got his mother’s written permission
> to enlist in the Navy three years later in 1966. He completed two tours of
> duty on a medical boat on the eastern coast and canals of South Vietnam.
>
> The carnage he saw in Vietnam caused him to re-evaluate his life, and he
> said he immersed himself in books and took and passed his high school
> equivalency test.
>
> McDonald contracted hepatitis while in the military and said the war left him
> "lost and confused." He drifted between jobs and girlfriends, was married
> three times and has a 28-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.
>
> He went on to work more than 27 years at Universal Oil Products and earned
> an associate’s degree from Morton College in Cicero. But his hepatitis began
> to sap his energy and damage his liver, and he has been unable to work for
> nearly a year. He is waiting for a liver transplant.
>
> The dollar figures attached to the collection are foreign to McDonald. "I just
> spent $72 on a fish tank, and I was feeling guilty about it," he said.
>
> Still, he said his connection to Freund is more important to him than the
> money, especially "where I am now in my life, because I don’t know how
> much longer I have to be healthy. I would like to see these artworks of his, if
> I can."
>
> He said he hopes to keep the collection together as a tribute to Freund’s
> "How do you set a price on something that represents someone else’s
> suffering?" McDonald said.
>
> The chemical plant worker grew up hearing tales of a stolen art collection,
> but his family in America denied any Jewish ancestry and he began to doubt
> the collection’s existence. Then a Czech Republic law aimed at tracking down
> descendants of Jews who lost property during World War II set off a chain of
> events that led to Chicago.
>
> McDonald’s great-great uncle, lawyer and insurance company executive Emil
> Freund, was expelled from Prague during the Nazi occupation and died in a
> Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland, in 1942. The Nazis kept his French paintings in
> a warehouse, and the communist government of Czechoslovakia later claimed
> them.
>
> Two of Freund’s sisters who had moved to Chicago by the early 1920s
> attempted to retrieve the paintings from postwar Czechoslovakia with no
> luck. One of them, McDonald’s great-great grandmother, Berta Sieben, wrote
> an undated letter to the American ambassador in Prague: "Dr. Emil Freund . .
> . was imprisoned and subsequently died after mistreatment by the Germans,"
> she wrote. She urged the government to return Freund’s furniture,
> belongings and "a rare collection of oil paintings."
>
> McDonald now has a copy of that letter. But for years his family had given
> up on retrieving the collection, and eventually it was forgotten. Then the
> post-communist Czech government ordered The Jewish Museum in Prague to
> find heirs to the former owners of stolen art.
>
> Guessing that some of Freund’s relatives might have settled among Chicago’s
> large Czech population, the museum contacted the Chicago Tribune seeking
> help. The newspaper searched public records and death announcements to
> create a family tree that led to McDonald as the only identified surviving heir.
>
> Now, the museum will take up to a year to verify McDonald’s family
> connection and search for other possible living heirs.
>
> The paintings include Andre Derain’s "Head of a Young Woman" (c. 1920),
> Paul Signac’s "Riverboat on the Seine" (1901) and Charles Dufresne’s "Three
> nudes in a Garden" (1924). There are also paintings by noted Czech artists,
> including Jan Bauch, Zdenek Rykr and Emil Filla.
>
> The paintings are mostly portraits and landscapes. "They’re precisely the kind
> of works the Nazis loved to steal, in that they’re pretty pictures and not
> avant-garde. They’re relatively conservative works," said Paul Gray, a
> Chicago art dealer.
>
> Some are worth about $20,000, but others are expected to fetch more than
> $1 million.
>
> The collection could be a bonanza for McDonald, who dropped out of
> Downers Grove High School at age 14 and got his mother’s written permission
> to enlist in the Navy three years later in 1966. He completed two tours of
> duty on a medical boat on the eastern coast and canals of South Vietnam.
>
> The carnage he saw in Vietnam caused him to re-evaluate his life, and he
> said he immersed himself in books and took and passed his high school
> equivalency test.
>
> McDonald contracted hepatitis while in the military and said the war left him
> "lost and confused." He drifted between jobs and girlfriends, was married
> three times and has a 28-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.
>
> He went on to work more than 27 years at Universal Oil Products and earned
> an associate’s degree from Morton College in Cicero. But his hepatitis began
> to sap his energy and damage his liver, and he has been unable to work for
> nearly a year. He is waiting for a liver transplant.
>
> The dollar figures attached to the collection are foreign to McDonald. "I just
> spent $72 on a fish tank, and I was feeling guilty about it," he said.
>
> Still, he said his connection to Freund is more important to him than the
> money, especially "where I am now in my life, because I don’t know how
> much longer I have to be healthy. I would like to see these artworks of his, if
> I can."
>
> He said he hopes to keep the collection together as a tribute to Freund’s