The former director of the Edgerton Public Library faces charges of stealing hundreds of books, compact discs and other materials, as well as falsifying a $952 hotel receipt. Marylou Pierce Smith, 53, could face a maximum of 20 years prison and a $20,000 fine if convicted of the felony theft and misconduct in public office charges filed Monday. Her last day at the library was April 5. A city audit of library materials had shown that 514 items valued at $6,864 were missing. The criminal complaint said that Smith, when contacted by police, first denied the allegations, saying other employees were trying to set her up, but later confirmed she had taken the materials. Smith said she ``recognized that she has a serious problem and is under treatment with a psychiatrist to solve them,'' the complaint stated. A search of her home found 148 stolen books, 92 stolen CDs, 10 stolen cassette tapes and one stolen videotape, the complaint said. It said she had given some items to family and friends, who were unaware the things had been stolen, and she ordered some library items knowing she intended to take them home. Bob Krekel, finance director for the city, told police that Smith was supposed to attend an eight-day library conference in New Orleans in 1999. Smith had turned in a reservation confirmation from the hotel and was reimbursed $952, but the hotel told city officials Smith didn't stay there during the conference, the complaint said. Smith was released on a signature bond, pending a preliminary hearing June 8.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A powerful Jewish advocacy group said Wednesday it had backed up claims that the German city of Augsburg had lauded Adolf Hitler's leading art dealer as a local hero by citing a 1960 statement by its mayor. But the battle between the World Jewish Congress and Augsburg, which since early May has been answering WJC criticisms about its failure to tell visitors about Karl Haberstock's Nazi past, seemed to be calming. The city, in a letter sent on Monday to the congress, reversed itself and promised to consider stripping Haberstock's name from the foundation that manages the paintings he donated. Previously, the museum has said it was insensitive to omit Haberstock's Nazi background from a 1991 catalog on the paintings he once owned. The congress provided Reuters with the letter it received from Ekkehard Gesler, Augsburg cultural affairs spokesman, and the WJC's response, dated Tuesday. Haberstock reaped big profits during World War II by buying at big discounts, art from Jews who were under duress, according to a postwar U.S. military report. And before the war broke out, he made money by selling modern art Hitler had condemned as "degenerate" outside Germany after marking up the prices. The city, located northeast of Munich, denied it had glorified Haberstock. "Never was Haberstock celebrated as a local hero," Gesler wrote the WJC. The WJC used the city's own history to contradict this. Steinberg said that Jonathan Petropoulos, who has written two books on how the Nazis looted art, provided him with a statement by Oberburgermeister Klaus Muller from January 1960, in which he speaks of Haberstock as "a man of the world and a passionate lover of art." The WJC official told Gesler: "The statement speaks for itself." The Augsburg Municipal Art Museum, in its letter to the WJC, defended itself from concerns that Haberstock might have given it art that was taken from Holocaust victims, saying it has given authorities a list of the paintings, and plans to publish the works on the Internet. Petropoulos told Reuters, in a letter sent on Wednesday over the Internet, that: "I have no knowledge of Augsburg having looted art but we just don't know. The collection should be checked." Gesler's letter to the WJC opened a new controversy. The museum said that small captions on the paintings Haberstock donated only refer to the foundation's ownership. Still, this seems to fall short of U.S. standards: the country's museums in 1998 promised to label any art stolen from Jews as Holocaust works. "That this name (Haberstock) should be attached to paintings and the visitor to the museum is in no way made aware of the notorious connections to it must give rise to serious concern," Steinberg wrote. Whether Petropoulos, who says he was prevented from studying the museum's archives, now will be able to do so was not clear. Gesler wrote Steinberg most of the records cover the post-war era, so German laws on classifying material "opposed" a general opening of the files. Petropoulos said the archives were valuable because little is known about what Haberstock did after the war. In its letter to the WJC, the museum did not say when it removed a bust of Habersock from pride of place, near the entrance. Petropoulos said he saw the bust displayed by the entrance when he visited in 1996. At the same time, the museum had a portrait of Haberstock hanging in the galleries, the art expert says. But Gesler wrote the WJC that no portrait of Haberstock or of his wife now were hanging on the walls.
CHINA is demanding the return of hundreds of paintings that were looted from imperial palaces and are now held by the British Museum. The state Worker's Daily newspaper has announced a campaign to repatriate a million stolen artefacts from around the world and Britain is named among the most serious offenders. The paper said: "Many relics were smuggled to Britain. The British Museum has the finest collection of Chinese paintings." China, it said, will set up a special government department to lobby for the return of relics and paintings, which it claimed could be found in more than 200 museums in 47 countries. Xie Chensheng, a government adviser, was quoted as saying that relics were stolen by invading nations or purchased by foreigners at extremely low prices from Chinese warlords and smuggled abroad. The repatriation campaign is also focused on America, France and Japan. At the top of the request list are two paintings held by the British Museum called Nushizhentu and Luoshenfu. These images of Tang Dynasty fairytales are reproduced in many Chinese schoolbooks. The British Museum is also said to have classical Buddhist books taken from the Dunhuang area in the province of Gansu at the beginning of the 19th century. An official at the Cultural Relics Bureau in Beijing said: "Britain has the best Chinese paintings outside China. Most were secretly transported out of the country in the period of the Republic of China [1911-1949] when society was in chaos. They are now kept in the British Museum." A British Museum spokesman said it had received "no intimation" of the campaign. He expressed surprise because there were strong links between the museum and the Chinese, including two recent major exhibitions of Chinese antiquities and many continuing projects. He said that if objects were acquired in good faith, they are held in trust and trustees are forbidden to dispose of any object. "As with any restitution, it would have to be a political matter," he said. The return of China's treasures has become a hot political issue after a Chinese company with links to the Government bought back a number of artefacts at two auctions in Hong Kong this month. Christie's and Sotheby's had refused to hand over the items, saying that they had been legally traded. Chinese nationalists and art historians were outraged by the fact that Beijing had to buy back its own treasures. An Jiayao, a relics expert, said: "If relics have been stolen, then nobody has the right to auction them." The Poly Group, the former arms-dealing agency of the People's Liberation Army, spent £1.6 million to buy back a Qing Dynasty vase. The group has vowed to continue its buying spree and is now trying to recruit other companies to follow its example. A spokesman said: "It is impossible for us to save all the relics abroad. However, we hope we can form an alliance with other commercial enterprises and buy back more." The worst looting took place during the Second Opium War 140 years ago, when British and French troops ransacked Chinese palaces. The problem continues today and the Chinese Government is co-operating with Unesco to hunt tomb raiders who supply the market with Chinese relics in North America and Europe.
(Times London)