Kurt Grawi

Kurt Grawi (born February 1, 1887, in Hannover; d. 1945 in Santiago, Chile)[1] was a German Jewish businessman and art collector who was persecuted by the Nazis.

Early life

Grawi was born in 1887, the child of Josef Grawi (b. October 18, 1851)[2] and Berta Grawi. He had three sisters: Margarete Then-Bergh; Dr. Erna Gertrud Grawi and Irma Neumann.

He married Else Emilie Katherina Grawi (b. September 5, 1894 in Germany; d. August 4, 1953 in Santiago, Chile).[3]

Art collector

In 1928, Grawi purchased The Foxes by Franz Marc.[4]

Nazi persecution

After the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Grawi was persecuted because he was Jewish. His business was Aryanized, that is, transferred in accordance with anti-semitic Nazi laws to non-Jewish owners, in 1935.[5] In 1938, on Kristallnacht Grawi was arrested and imprisoned at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He fled to Chile in 1939.[6]

Restitution claim for The Foxes

In 2017, Grawi's family demanded the restitution of Marc's painting The Foxes (1913) from Düsseldorf's Kunstpalast.[4][7] After Grawi's arrest on Kristallnacht and detention in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1938, he had fled Germany for Chile in 1939. The painting passed through Galerie Nierendorf, and William and Charlotte Dieterle, according to the German Lost Art Foundation.[6] Sold in New York to fund Grawi's escape from Nazi Germany, the sale was considered to have been made under duress.[8] In 2021, the German Advisory Commission recommended that the city of Düsseldorf restitute the painting to Grawi's heirs[9][10] and the Düsseldorf City Council voted in a closed session to restitute the painting.[11]

In January 2022, after hesitations and delays[12] that attracted criticism, Düsseldorf restituted Marc's The Foxes ("Die Füchse" ) to the Grawi heirs.[13]

References
  1. "Kurt Grawi". geni_family_tree. 19 February 1887. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  2. "Josef Grawi". geni_family_tree. 18 October 1851. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  3. "Else Emilie Katherina Grawi". geni_family_tree. 5 September 1894. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  4. "Düsseldorf faces Nazi-era claim for Franz Marc's foxes". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 2017-12-19. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  5. Packard, Cassie (2021-05-18). "Restitution of Franz Marc Painting Sets New Precedent for Art Sold Under Nazi Duress". Hyperallergic. Archived from the original on 2021-05-19. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  6. "German Lost Art Foundation - Project finder - Provenance Research on Franz Marc's "Foxes" of 1913". www.kulturgutverluste.de. Retrieved 2022-01-23. Kurt Grawi's arrest and imprisonment in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1938 meant that he subsequently had to flee Germany with his wife and stepchildren. In 1939, Grawi's wife, who was not Jewish, sold the Berlin properties that had been signed over to her and organized the family's emigration to Chile that same year.
  7. "Düsseldorf steht vor heikler Raubkunst-Frage | Monopol". www.monopol-magazin.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2018-07-20. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  8. Packard, Cassie (2021-05-18). "Restitution of Franz Marc Painting Sets New Precedent for Art Sold Under Nazi Duress". Hyperallergic. Archived from the original on 2021-05-19. Retrieved 2022-01-23. The long-awaited ruling has significant implications: because the painting was sold in New York to fund Grawi's flight from Nazi Germany, the decision to restitute the work may set a precedent for future claims regarding cultural objects sold under duress beyond Europe's borders
  9. "German Nazi-looted art panel recommends return of Franz Marc's Foxes to heirs of Jewish banker". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 2021-03-26. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  10. Selvin, Claire (2021-04-14). "Experts Recommend That German City Return Nazi-Looted Franz Marc Painting". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  11. Packard, Cassie (2021-05-18). "Restitution of Franz Marc Painting Sets New Precedent for Art Sold Under Nazi Duress". Hyperallergic. Archived from the original on 2021-05-19. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  12. Greenberger, Alex (2021-07-09). "German City's Restitution of Franz Marc Painting Comes to a Standstill". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  13. "Stadt Düsseldorf gibt 14-Mio-Gemälde zurück an Erben". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
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