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------------------------- * * X.com * Facebook * E-Mail * * * X.com * Facebook * E-Mail * Messenger * WhatsApp * Dieser Beitrag stammt aus dem SPIEGEL-Archiv. Warum ist das wichtig? Until
his death last Tuesday, the case surrounding Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of Nazi art dealer Hildebrandt Gurlitt , had brought one embarrassment after another to Germany -- not just because of
the highly controversial art collection he was hoarding and had kept out of the public light for decades, but also the amateurish way in which the affair had been handled by officials.
First public prosecutors opened a tax evasion investigation into Gurlitt. Then they seized his art collection and made a pathetic attempt to keep their probe into the works' provenance
under wraps. The newsweekly _Focus_ exposed the whole thing in November, prompting officials to appoint a task force to look into the more than 1,000 works of art, even though it seemed to
get very little work done. All this happened under understandable pressure from descendants of Jewish families contesting the ownership of the art. But the proceedings against the
81-year-old lacked a plan and often seemed legally dubious. In early April, weeks before Gurlitt's death, representatives of the federal government in Berlin and the state of Bavaria,
where he resided, managed to convince Gurlitt to sign an agreement. He signed it in bed, wearing a blue bathrobe, his white hair tousled. Under the deal, he agreed to allow research to be
conducted into the origins of the works and to give back anything that proved to be looted art to its true owners. In return, the paintings were returned to him. Officials had hoped the
works would sooner or later be bequeathed to the public. Of course it was the German public they had in mind. UNPLEASANT SURPRISE Many must have been unpleasantly surprised when they learned
that Gurlitt had willed his collection to the Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland. According to reports, Gurlitt was deeply shocked by the way he was treated by the government. And now there
are signs that his own will and testament won't be respected by the state either. Last week, officials at the Bavarian state ministry for education, research, culture and art said they
would review the collection to determine whether outstanding individual works could be classified as national treasures -- this would ban them from export on the basis of a law prohibiting
the removal of cultural heritage. The list of protected works in Bavaria currently includes, for example, drawings by Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. It will be difficult to determine
whether Gurlitt's art works are in fact important parts of German cultural heritage. A large part of the collection consists of works by the German avant-garde that had been declared
"degenerate art" by the Nazis in 1937. Officials had permitted Hildebrandt Gurlitt to deal in these works after they were banned from museums. The paintings would certainly serve
as a memorial to the period, but is that purpose enough to prohibit them from being sent abroad? Austria, incidentally, has announced that the approximately 200 paintings found in Salzburg
will face equally thorough examinations before they are allowed to be exported. SWITZERLAND AS SAVIOR Matthias Frehner, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts Bern, says the inheritance is,
of course, a challenge -- but he seems more excited than concerned. He wants to take a look at the paintings this week. They include numerous works that would be coveted by any museum in
the world. The will would also allow some objects to be sold, which Frehner could imagine doing in order to, for example, pay the inheritance tax, if one is due. That's another question
that remains to be answered -- the Swiss may argue that Gurlitt's will serves charitable purposes. Frehner sees the stance of the state of Bavaria, which may attempt to prevent the
export of select works, as an act of defiance -- but he also understands it. Otherwise it seems like all of the involved people in Berlin -- the Chancellery as well as the self-appointed
task force -- think of Switzerland as a savior, because it would rid them of a problem: better for there to be a Gurlitt collection in a dignified Bern museum than for there to be, as Munich
politicians had imagined, a Gurlitt castle in Bavaria. Over the past week, there has been lots of disagreement between the capital and the Bavarians. But one of the other remaining
questions is whether Gurlitt's relatives will go along with all of this. Two of Cornelius Gurlitt's are in favor of the Bern solution, while another relative has come out against
it. The case will be a difficult one. BY JÜRGEN DAHLKAMP, DIETMAR HIPP, ANNA KISTNER, ULRIKE KNÖFEL AND MICHAEL SONTHEIMER