Original version

BBC World Service Online

Witness History

Podcasts

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: History

History as told by the people who were there

History as told by the people who were there.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

Witness History: The lost Nazi-era art trove

Documentaries

Marc,_Franz_-_Pferde_in_Landschaft cropped.jpg

02/07/2020 GMT

The lost Nazi-era art trove

BBC World Service - Witness History, The lost Nazi-era art trove

How a secret collection of art missing since Nazi rule was found in Germany in 2012

How a stunning collection of art, missing since Nazi rule, was found in Germany in 2012.  It had once belonged to one of the Nazi's top art dealers, Hildebrand Gurlitt.

In 2012 a stunning, secret collection of art was found in Germany. Much of it had disappeared during Nazi rule in the 1930s and 40s. It had once belonged to one of the Nazi's top art dealers, Hildebrand Gurlitt. It was found by chance in the Munich apartment of his elderly, reclusive son, Cornelius. It contained lost works by Renoir, Matisse, Chagal and the masters of the German expressionist movement. Many of the works had been confiscated during the Nazis "Degenerate Art" campaign in the late 1930s, when the Nazis stripped thousands of works of art from public display. Alex Last spoke to Dr Meike Hoffmann, an expert on Nazi art policy, who was one of the first to examine the collection. 

Photo: One of the art works discovered in the Gurlitt collection was Pferde in Landschaft (Horses in Landscape) by famous German expressionist Franz Marc.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Witness History

The lost Nazi-era art trove

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service