The Association for Gravestone Studies is having their annual conference in Washington D.C. the end of June 23 -27. I am heading up a class on the cemetery theft situation and laws needed to protect old cemeteries. It will be a question and answer class, lots of discussion. I am trying to put together a panel. Besides some of my AGS regulars to help with discussions, I am hoping to get - a Senator that's pushing for federal laws, an FBI agent and possibly an Atty. and a representative from the National Trust. I would like to have a representative from your organization also, if you are willing. If it is too short of notice perhaps you could send me something that I could use in the handouts I would like to make available. I am expecting between 40 to 70 people at this class, from all over the U.S. and I would like give all in attendance some good background on What is happening, What some of us have been involved with and how to contact us, or others in various areas for their concerns when they go home. This discussion will also cover "subject matter pertaining to cemeteries disappearing and laws needed to protect them". Not just theft issues. If you are willing, and can pipe me a paragraph or two please do. If you have any short "horror" stories, I'll take them too. It always helps to get people's attention. Thanks for the help, if you'd like anymore information I would be happy to provide it.
Ruthie Shapleigh-Brown, Exec. Director, Connecticut Gravestone Network and Association for Gravestone Studies Trustee - shapbrown@home.com
THE elderly widow expected to win the return of a £3.3 million Van Gogh from a German museum says she has no intention of keeping it for herself or selling it to fund a more luxurious lifestyle. As Gerta Silberberg, 85, indicated that she would continue to live quietly in the Midlands, the Berlin National Gallery confirmed that it could return the Vincent van Gogh sketch L'Olivette, and Man with Yellow Coat by the 19th-century German painter Hans von Marees, within weeks. They were among six paintings that Mrs Silberberg's lawyers have begun to search for from 143 that her wealthy father-in-law, Max Silberberg, who died during the Holocaust, was forced to sell at "Jewish auctions" in the 1930s to avoid ruin as a result of Nazi persecution. Mrs Silberberg appeared briefly at the door of her semi-detached home yesterday and issued a statement through her solicitor saying that she did not want to be reminded of painful family memories. "Obviously, I have no wish to receive the pictures myself. I wish to continue to live modestly and quietly for my remaining years," she said. Wolfgang Kahlke, spokesman for the foundation that operates Berlin's National Gallery, said publicity surrounding the return of the Van Gogh could spark more claims as memories are jogged. Professor Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, the foundation's president, will today ask his board for authorisation to return property to Holocaust survivors and their relatives, side-stepping the lengthy legal proceedings that have bedevilled other attempts by Jewish groups to recover assets lost during the Nazi era. The "Jewish auctions" were deemed illegal in 1989. Herr Kahlke said last night: "It goes without saying that this blatant injustice will be made right. Without a question the two works belong to Mrs Silberberg." He confirmed that a handover could occur within weeks and said that the museum had not decided whether to offer to buy the works. "They're not cheap, and money is tight here." Mrs Silberberg's lawyers have not confirmed if she will sell the Van Gogh and von Marees to fund a search for other works in her father-in-law's collection, which included two Van Gogh drawings, two Cézannes, two Delacroix and works by Manet, Renoir, Degas, Matisse, Braque, Pissarro and Sisley. One Cézanne is believed to be in the Hermitage in St Petersburg, a Manet is thought to have arrived in Britain before the end of the Second World War, and Pissarro's Boulevard Montmartre, Printemps of 1897 is believed to have been in an American private collection since 1960. A sixth to be located is Max Liebermann's Sewing School - The Workroom of the Amsterdam Orphanage, presently in the Bündner Kunstmuseum in Chur, Switzerland. Neighbours of Mrs Silberberg, whose husband, Alfred, died in 1984, leaving her the last surviving relative of Max Silberberg, yesterday said that they were delighted for her. "In a way it all seems far too late," one said. "But she is such a nice person and deserves to get her family belongings returned." Anne Webber, co-chairwoman of the European Commission on Looted Art, said: "This will enable the return of many hundreds of art works held in Germany. The Nazis carried out the greatest art robbery in history."
LONDON, May 4 (JTA) -- A wealthy Austrian family has demanded that U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and her family return millions of dollars worth of ``war booty" allegedly taken from their apartment in Prague after World War II. Philip Harmer, head of a family of former Austrian industrialists and landowners, alleges that Albright's father, Josef Korbel, took 20 17th-century Dutch paintings, antique furniture and silver from his family's apartment in Prague. ``I cannot believe that the secretary of state of the U.S. and her brother and sister enjoy eating with my family's silver, while surrounded by my family's paintings and furniture," said Harmer, now a management consultant in Vienna. ``I find it impossible to believe that they are not prepared to make amends for this injustice." During the war years, the Korbel family found refuge in London, where they learned that many Jewish members of their family had perished in the Holocaust. Albright, who was raised as a Roman Catholic and later became an Episcopalian, said she first learned she had Jewish ancestors when it was reported by The Washington Post in February 1997. Immediately after the war, Josef Korbel was appointed a diplomat in the postwar Czech Foreign Ministry and the family, including daughter Madeleine, returned to the Czech capital in late 1945. Meanwhile, the new communist government in Prague had expelled more than 3 million Germans, and while Harmer insists that ``not one member of my family ever had anything to do with the Nazis," he says, ``The climate in Prague at the time was so anti-German that my family had no option but to leave." Before leaving, however, they took the precaution of moving their collection of paintings to another apartment where Harmer's great-aunt, a Swiss national, was living. When the Korbels returned to Prague, they took up residence in the Harmer family's vacated apartment, where Josef Korbel immediately noticed patches on the wall where the paintings had hung. According to Harmer, he ``demanded that the housekeepers tell him where they were. He then went round to my great-aunt's flat and removed them." These allegations are supported by a letter written to Albright by Harmer's 89-year-old great-grandmother, Ruth Harmer-Nebrich. ``Your father did not care," she wrote. ``He threatened my sister in a very nasty way and, as she was a rather weak and sick person, she did not resist, and so the paintings had to be brought back to the place where he had moved in." When Korbel was posted to the Czech Embassy in Belgrade, the letter continues, ``Mr. Korbel took every single item with him. ``He also took valuable silver and bed linen that Jewish families had asked us to keep for them during the Nazi occupation." While in Belgrade, Korbel decided to move to the United States with his family. Harmer believes Korbel sold some of the paintings, but he is convinced that several artworks are in the homes of Albright's younger brother, John Korbel, in Arlington, Va., and her sister, Kathy. Harmer's initially cordial correspondence with the family, however, met with a rebuff from John Korbel's lawyer. ``Given the lack of evidence of ownership by Mrs. Nebrich of the items in question and the strong evidence they were expropriated by the Czech authorities, we can only conclude that your family does not have any claim against our clients," wrote Michael Jaffe. Harmer, however, contends that the Czech authorities have no evidence that the paintings were confiscated. Moreover, American journalist Michael Dobbs, whose biography of Albright will be published later this month, says he identified two of the paintings while interviewing John Korbel at his home. The paintings, said to be hanging in Korbel's living room, are by 17th- century Dutch artists Ludolf Backhuysen and Hendrik Van Steenwyck. Korbel is said to have told Dobbs that his sister, Kathy, had another painting that formerly belonged to their father, but he insisted that Albright herself had none at her home in Washington. Korbel rejected suggestions that the paintings had been looted, insisting that his father would have paid for them or would have been given them by the Czech government. Harmer, however, has a different version. ``Josef Korbel just told my great-aunt, 'These are hard times,' when he took away the family paintings. ``It was understandable, considering what the Nazis did to his family," said Harmer, ``but it was not necessarily right." Despite the brushoffs he has received so far from lawyers representing Albright's family, Harmer is determined to press his family's claims and has set a May 15 deadline for restitution to be made. ``We are assuming that the Albrights are honest people," he added, ``and that they will want to clear up this matter as soon as possible.''
(c Jewish Telegraphic Agency Inc.
A former Cleveland lawyer who was granted immunity in 1997 after he was found to be harboring millions of dollars in stolen fine art has been indicted in Los Angeles on a charge of concealing $492,300 from the Internal Revenue Service. The one-count indictment accuses James J. Little of filing a false return for the tax year 1992 by failing to report his portion of a multimillion-dollar settlement he and his former law partner, James J. Tierney, received on behalf of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson. The indictment was returned April 13 but was not publicized until this week because authorities could not locate Little, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard E. Robinson. He said Little, who could not be reached for comment, would be sent a summons to appear for arraignment. Little, 42, is expected to be a key witness in the July 6 trial of retired Beverly Hills ophthalmologist Dr. Steven G. Cooperman, who was indicted last year on charges of insurance fraud after FBI agents recovered a painting by Claude Monet and another by Pablo Picasso that had been stolen from his art collection in 1992. The paintings were found in February 1997 in a storage locker being rented by Little's mother in Olmsted Falls. Tierney, 56, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and New York, has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting wire fraud by taking the paintings - Monet's "The Customs Officer's Cabin at Pourville" and Picasso's "Nude Before a Mirror" - from Cooperman's Brentwood mansion. Cooperman, 56, later settled a lawsuit against the paintings' insurers for $17.5 million. Little has admitted bringing the paintings to Cleveland and storing them in the locker, but he has claimed he did so unwittingly, earning him a grant of immunity from federal prosecutors. Robinson would not say what effect, if any, Little's indictment would have on his immunity or Cooperman's trial. "It's our office's position that he has no current immunity that protects him from prosecution in this indictment," Robinson said. Little's immunity agreement attests that he did not know when Tierney gave him two sealed boxes for safekeeping that the paintings were inside. While the agreement promises that the government will not prosecute Little "for any crimes he has committed by virtue of his receipt, possession or interstate transportation of the paintings," it allows prosecutors to pursue charges "for any federal crime unrelated to the paintings." Before Little returned to Cleveland in 1995, he and Tierney had a thriving entertainment law practice in Los Angeles, winning and losing multimillion-dollar awards while representing Wilson during his highly publicized legal battles with Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love. The $492,300 that Little is accused of failing to report came from a settlement the lawyers negotiated after Wilson alleged fraud and copyright infringement pertaining to the 1969 sale of the band's music catalog. Little moved back to California in 1997 after his volatile relationship with Pamela A. Davis, a former pharmaceutical sales representative, landed him in the Rocky River jail on charges of criminal damaging and driving under the influence. Davis, who has twice been convicted of using stolen credit cards, is now seeking a $250,000 reward for the paintings' return.
c1999 THE PLAIN DEALER
Calgary -- Alberta Treasury Branches says Peter Pocklington has no authority to raise money through the sale of five valuable oil paintings, including two already seized and sold by the government-owned bank. ATB lawyer Michael McCabe said yesterday that Mr. Pocklington doesn't have the right to collect proceeds from any art sale to raise cash for legal fees in the Edmonton financier's court fight against the Alberta government. To add insult to injury, Mr. Pocklington is trying to claim ownership of art that no longer belongs to him, an angry Mr. McCabe said. Two Group of Seven paintings were sold Wednesday night at Sotheby's spring auction in Toronto, with the seller behind the scenes being ATB. Decorative Landscape, Algoma by Lawren Harris fetched $210,000, and Early Snow, Alberta by A.Y. Jackson sold for $150,000. "My expectation is that those proceeds will go to ATB," Mr. McCabe said. "We had specific security on those two paintings, but Peter Pocklington completely ignores the fact that they happened to be encumbered in favour of ATB. That's really irritating," Mr. McCabe said. Adding on the buyers' premium -- 15-per-cent commission on the first $50,000 and 10 per cent on anything above that -- Algoma went for $233,500 and Early Snow for $167,500. In an interview yesterday, Mr. Pocklington said the Sotheby's auction of those two paintings won't prevent him from forging ahead with his art sale because he will simply choose other works from his extensive collection. "There's many, many to choose from. There's over 60," he said. Mr. Pocklington filed an affidavit in the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench earlier this week in which he outlined plans to sell five paintings. The other three works were Jackson's Chinook, Cowley, Alberta,and White Thorn Plain and Long Grass,both by Ivan Eyre. Mr. McCabe said ATB will oppose Mr. Pocklington's notice of motion, scheduled for mid-June, to raise at least $550,000 from the proposed art sale. The financier's court submission included independent appraisals of $300,000 for Algoma and $175,000 for Early Snow. Proceeds from his art sale would go toward a $550,000 retainer for Edmonton law firm Duncan & Craig to enable the entrepreneur to continue his court fights against the Alberta government on disputes related to now-defunct Gainers Inc. "The government has been going after me for 10 years on this Gainers problem," Mr. Pocklington said yesterday. The government, which seized the Edmonton-based meat packer in 1989 after the company defaulted on loans, ended up losing $209-million in bailout costs for Gainers. Mr. Pocklington "shouldn't be allowed to use any of his personal assets to pay for those lawsuits" related to Gainers, Mr. McCabe said. "He's trying to take the actual security that ATB holds and give it away" to Duncan & Craig. ATB launched its own lawsuit against him last year in which the provincially owned bank alleges that he owes $56-million to ATB. He counters that his debts amount to $27-million. The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench effectively barred the businessman last fall from selling off his own assets, but Mr. Pocklington's affidavit in the ATB case argues that he has been "unable to retain and instruct legal counsel" to challenge the government on the Gainers' cases. Mr. McCabe said he's disturbed by the "audacity of the affidavit" submitted by the former owner of the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. The legal status of the other three paintings "is hanging in limbo, but Mr. Pocklington still wants to kick them loose and have them sold. We're really not impressed." Earlier this spring, ATB forced Mr. Pocklington to sell his jet for $2-million (U.S.). Mr. Pocklington's two main holding companies, Pocklington Financial Corp. and Hartford Securities Inc., were placed under the control of receiver-manager KPMG Inc. last July at the request of ATB. Pocklington Financial went into bankruptcy in January this year and Hartford Securities remains in receivership. Hartford's assets include Lethbridge, Alta.-based margarine producer Canbra Foods Ltd., which is for sale.
A federal magistrate in New York has ruled that the Denver Art Museum did not prove its claim to a Navajo blanket that was auctioned for more than $430,000 in 1997. In a case as murky as the blanket is valuable, the museum had sued Edmund Carpenter, Adelaide de Menil and Sotheby's Inc. for proceeds of the sale. The museum claimed the blanket was "improperly removed" from the museum almost 30 years ago. Carpenter and de Menil purchased the piece in 1970 from dealer George Terasaki, who had bought it from former Denver dealer James Economos. Carpenter and de Menil contended that Economos legally bought the blanket from the museum, working with then-native arts curator Norman Feder in 1970. Carpenter and de Menil retained Sotheby's to auction the piece in 1997. Current native arts curator Nancy Blomberg said Thursday she noticed the description in the sale catalog matched that of a piece on the museum's list of missing objects. The museum asked Sotheby's to withhold the piece from auction while curators researched the issue, but the auction house refused. The blanket was sold to an anonymous buyer, and the $370,000 net proceeds were put in an interest-bearing escrow account. The museum had purchased the blanket for $650 in 1950. "We said we wanted the textile, we didn't want the money," said Blomberg. "This is a huge disappointment to us." Carpenter could not be reached for comment. U.S. District Magistrate Naomi Buchwald, in a ruling dated Tuesday, said the museum did not prove that the exchange between Economos and Norman Feder "was anything other than a bona fide exchange for equivalent value."
A GERMAN art gallery announced yesterday that it was handing over a Van Gogh picture to an elderly widow whose family was forced to sell it under the Nazis. But the return of the £3.3 million sketch entitled L'Olivette poses a problem for 85-year-old Gerta Silberberg, who lives in a modest semidetached house in the Midlands, because she has no idea what she will do with it. The German National Gallery in Berlin will also be returning Man with Yellow Coat, by the German painter Hans Von Marees. The two paintings were among six works that Mrs Silberberg's father-in-law, Max, was forced to sell cheaply at "Jewish auctions" in the 1930s. The landmark ruling, announced by the Bonn Culture Minister Michael Naulmann, is expected to open the way for scores of other art treasure claims. Herr Naulmann, speaking at a special meeting of the Foundation for Prussian Cultural Heritage, an umbrella organisation for Berlin museums, said: "The Government is simply doing the decent thing." The timetable for the return of the paintings has not been agreed - the Berlin gallery indicated that it would be negotiating with Mrs Silberberg to buy one of the works but did not specify which. The decision was relayed personally by the gallery to Mrs Silberberg, who made a visit to Berlin last year to view the paintings. Stephen Woolfe, her solicitor, said: "She is very pleased at the outcome. She has not considered what she might do with the pictures.