It takes Chutzpah to Keep Stolen Art

July 31, 2010, 3:30PM. By Brenda Craig

New York, NYFor years, the Herzog family has been asking the Hungarian government to return a valuable art collection that was confiscated by the Nazis and their Hungarian allies during WWll. At least 40 of those works of art are now prominently displayed in the museums and galleries of Budapest.

Many of the pieces carry small brass plaques acknowledging they are part of the "Herzog collection" – a sight that galls the family, to the say the least.

"Galling is the word," says Herzog family attorney Michael Shuster from his office in New York City. "It takes chutzpah to do that. It's like spitting in your eye—to acknowledge that the paintings come from the Herzog collection and still hold on to them!"

The collection was originally the property of Herzog family patriarch Baron Mor Lipot Herzog, a wealthy Jewish Hungarian industrialist whose collection of 2500 paintings and sculptures included works by Renoir, Monet, El Greco, Francisco de Zurbaran, van Dyck and many others.

During the war, thousands of Hungarian Jews, including members of the Herzog family, were deported to concentration camps or worked to death as slave laborers. The Nazis and their Hungarian collaborators seized millions of dollars worth of property from Jewish families, including the Herzog family art collection, which was the best-known and most valuable private art collection in Hungary.

At a hotel in Budapest in 1944, Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann personally plucked some of the best pieces for his own collection, which was then spirited away.

After years of trying to negotiate the return of the collection, the family "ultimately concluded they were just being strung along," says Shuster. The Herzog heirs eventually took legal action in Hungary, but in 2007 the Hungarian courts ruled against the family.

The Herzog heirs are now asking a US federal court in Washington DC to remedy the situation. "Fundamentally we seek the return of the collection," says Shuster. The family also wants a complete accounting of the works in the possession of the Hungarians.

"We know there are some in some other countries, but one of the reasons the suit seeks inventory from the Hungarian government is so we can see what else is there. Because we know they know."

The estimated value of the portion of the collection in the hands of the Hungarians is approximately $100 million. The paintings draw thousands of visitors to the Hungarian museums and galleries every year. Many of the pieces have been reproduced in books and magazines and sold in museum stores.

If the US suit is successful, Shuster says the family will ask the US government to assist in securing the release of the Herzog's property. "If we get an order compelling the return of the art, we can get a court order and seek to execute on the any of Hungarian assets that are in the US."

Shuster calls the Hungarian obstructions "vile."

"This is one of those things that perpetuates the feeling of having been abused—standing behind technicalities or just raw power and refusing to return the family's property," he adds.

Michael Shuster is a partner with Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman in New York City. He has more than 20 years experience as a trial attorney and is an expert in handling highly contested matters. He obtained his law degree at McGill University in Montreal.