大量藝術品70年後重見天日
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2013/11/22
2013-11-15 Web only 作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：天下雜誌 |
依照納粹德國的紐倫堡法案，希德布蘭．葛利特（Hildebrand Gurlitt）算是猶太人；他失去了博物館管理者的職位，只能看著納粹將許多德國最前衛的藝術品視為「墮落」。不過，希特勒的宣傳部長戈培爾（Joseph Goebbels）挑選的少數交易商之中，其中一位就是葛利特。這群交易商負責銷售大部分納粹沒收的藝術品；葛利特經手（但沒有出售）的藝術品，就像是藝術史的課程大綱：貝克曼（Max Beckmann）、迪克斯（Otto Dix）、諾爾德（Emil Nolde）、克西納（Ernst Ludwig Kirchner）、夏卡爾（Marc Chagall）。
二次大戰後，美國人試圖取回遭劫掠的藝術品，曾短暫拘留並訊問葛利特。葛利特表示，他的藝術品全都毀於1945年2月的德勒斯登大轟炸。他在1956年死於車禍，謊言也跟著他進入憤墓之中。
他的寶藏交到了兒子科尼留斯．葛利特（Cornelius Gurlitt）手中。小葛利特像個古怪的隱居者，似乎沒有家庭也沒有工作，在慕尼黑的公寓中生活了數十年。他將約莫1400件大師級作品存放於整潔的架子上，從來沒有展示給任何人看──唯一的例外，就是在他得出售藝術品好支付帳單之時。
2010年，或許就是在這類交易之後，葛利特帶著大量現鈔坐上從瑞士前往慕尼黑的列車。那引起巴伐利亞海關人員的疑心，避稅調查亦隨之而來；最終，調查人員於2012年搜索葛利特的公寓。警察走進屋內之時，下巴全都掉了下來。
專家花了三天，將藝術品全數運往安全地點，並請來藝術史專家評估價值。這批藝術品總值超過10億歐元，其中不但有納粹沒收的「墮落」藝術品，還有許多經典作品。其中最古老的，就是十六世紀的杜勒（Albrecht Dürer）銅版畫。
梅克爾政府先前已得知此事，但一直保密到現在才公佈。藝術品來源無法確知且牽連極廣；葛利特可能是部分作品的真正擁有者，部分可能劫掠自猶太人，部分可能是納粹從國家博物館沒收，還有一些可能是被迫或自由出售。律師可能得花上數年，試圖追溯畫作的擁有權。
在此同時，年約80的葛利特仍舊逍遙法外；負責此案的奧格斯堡檢察機關表示，目前並沒有足夠證據可以起訴他。此外，沒有人知道葛利特身在何處──也沒有人知道他到底是不是還活著。（黃維德譯）
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
The Economist
Hildebrand
Gurlitt’s secret
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: November 15, 2013
A vast trove of art comes to light in a Munich flat after seven
decades.
PARTLY Jewish by the definition of Nazi Germany’s Nuremberg Laws,
Hildebrand Gurlitt, a German connoisseur of art, lost his job running a museum
and had to watch as the Nazis derided much of Germany’s most avant-garde art as
"degenerate". But somehow he managed to become one of the few dealers
chosen by Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda boss, to sell much of the
art that the Nazis confiscated. The canvasses, lithographs and prints that Mr
Gurlitt got his hands on (but did not sell) read like the syllabus for a course
in the history of art: Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner, Marc Chagall.
After the war the Americans, who were trying to recover looted art,
briefly detained Mr Gurlitt for questioning. Mr Gurlitt said that all his
artworks had been incinerated in the fire-bombing of Dresden in February 1945.
When he died in a car crash in 1956 he took that lie to his grave.
His treasure ended up in the hands of his son, Cornelius. An eccentric
recluse who seems to have no family or job, the younger Gurlitt has been living
for decades in a nondescript apartment building in Munich. There he kept his
stash of about 1,400 masterpieces in neat shelves without showing them to
anybody—except when he needed to sell one to pay his bills.
Possibly after one such transaction in 2010, Mr Gurlitt was on a train
from Switzerland to Munich with a large wad of cash. Bavarian customs officers
on the train became suspicious. The ensuing investigation over suspected tax
evasion eventually led to a search warrant for Mr Gurlitt’s Munich flat in
2012. As the cops entered the trove, their jaws dropped.
Over three days, experts carted off the artworks to a secure location
and hired an art historian to begin evaluating the find. Probably worth more than
€1 billion ($1.35 billion), the collection includes not only
"degenerate" art the Nazis had confiscated but also many classics.
The oldest is a copper engraving of a crucifixion scene by Albrecht Dürer from
the 16th century.
The government of Angela Merkel, the chancellor, was informed, but the
proceedings were kept secret until now. The uncertain provenance of the art and
its implications seemed too daunting. The Gurlitts may have been the proper
owners of some works. Others could have been looted from Jews, others yet
confiscated by the Nazis from state-run museums, still others sold and resold
under duress or freely. Lawyers will be at work for years trying to trace the
ownership of the paintings.
Meanwhile Mr Gurlitt, who is about 80, remains at large. The
prosecutor’s office in Augsburg, which is dealing with the case, says so far
there is no evidence to charge him with a crime. For that matter, nobody knows
where Mr Gurlitt is—or indeed whether he is still alive.
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
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