Portrait of a Man: Henrietta Schubert Becomes Holocaust Heir of Art

‘Portrait of a Man,’ a painting sold by her Jewish grandparents to pay for their escape from Germany, was returned to Henrietta Schubert from the French government on Monday.

The painting was hanging in a French museum when it was determined to belong to Schubert’s family. She didn’t believe it when lawyers told her it had belonged to her family and thought it was a scam, The Associated Press reported.

Schubert is 67 and was moved to tears when the painting was returned to her. She lives in Vienna and was born in the same town where Adolf Hitler was born. She said, “The Nazis are dead, and this can help our wounds heal,” the AP reported.

The French government is now actively seeking the owners of artwork stolen or lost to the Nazis during World War II, rather than waiting for families to come forward. Genealogists are helping to identify descendants and family members of the artworks’ original owners, according to the AP.

In May, the Degas sketch “Trois Danseuses en Buste” was returned to Viviane Dreyfus, the daughter of Maurice Dreyfus, from whom it was stolen by Nazi occupiers in 1940. Dreyfus died in 1957 without knowing the drawing had been found in 1951 or ever mentioning it to his family.

There are about 2,000 unclaimed works of art from the Nazi era hanging in French museums. They were recovered after the war ended in 1945. Some were stolen from Jews while others were commissioned, sometimes forcibly, or bought by the Nazis.

While many like Schubert are touched by the return of the artwork, others have refused its return for reasons unknown, the AP reported.

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