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SEPTEMBER 15, 1999

CONTENTS:

+++++moderator's message+++++++

This mailinglist message has two more postings on the Nazi art theft message in which the full name and address of a woman accused of possessing looted art was published.I suppose all that could be said has been said by now.
Jonathan Sazonoff, the MSM USA contributing editor, has been in touch with several people that might be of importance regarding this issue. He also has been in touch with the original sender.
The FBI has been informed about the contents of the original message.
I will keep all of you informed about future developments in this case.
Ton Cremers
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


- Jewish Heirs Sue Austria Over Art
- Corinth Museum Pieces Found in Fla.
- Disaster Recovery Sourcebook
- Contingency Planning for Storms (William Heidecker)
- Follow-up: frozen collections at Field Museum (Sally Shelton)
- MUSEUM SECURITY AND SAFETY (Tom Reitz)
- RE: nazi stolen art posting (Tom Dixon)
- RE: nazi stolen art posting (Antony Anderson)
- Re: Frederick Hart sculpture theft (Don Hrycyk LAPD Art Theft Detail)

Jewish Heirs Sue Austria Over Art

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Heirs of a wealthy Jewish industrialist are suing Austria over its refusal to return five paintings they say were stolen by the Nazis, their lawyer said Tuesday. The paintings by Gustav Klimt, now valued at $160 million, are in the state-run Belvedere art museum. Lawyer Stefan Gulner said Tuesday that the works should be returned to the heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, who fled Austria in 1938, amid the Nazi takeover, leaving most of his art collection behind. The Austrian government says the paintings were given to the museum through Bloch-Bauer's wife's will before the Nazis seized power in 1939. In that case, officials said, the works would not fall under a 1998 law committing Austria to return valuables to the descendants of Jews coerced into handing them over to the Nazis. But Gulner said Bloch-Bauer decided not donate the paintings to the museum after he was forced to flee. A government consultative committee had recommended that 16 other Klimt works be returned to Bloch-Bauer's niece, but suggested the five paintings be kept by the state, citing similar arguments to the ones the government voiced. Klimt, an Austrian artist who died in 1918, was among the founders of a modern art movement called the Secession, which rejected academic painting for Impressionist and Art Nouveau styles. The five paintings in question include two portraits of Bloch-Bauer's wife, Adele, and three landscapes and nature studies.

Corinth Museum Pieces Found in Fla.

By LISA ORKIN Associated Press Writer

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - More than 200 ancient objects stolen from a Corinth museum nine years ago were found in a Florida storage area by the FBI and Greek authorities, Greece's culture minister said Tuesday. ``It was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, antiquities thefts,'' Culture Minister Elisavet Papazoi said. ``We are happy that they were found in good condition, and they will soon be back in Greece.'' Acting on a tip last week, authorities discovered all but three of the 271 stolen objects. They were wrapped in plastic and masking tape and hidden in fish crates in a storage area in Miami, Athens Police Chief Pavlos Roubis said. Roubis would not give any details of the exact location or provide further details of the bust. No arrests have been made. Archaeologists on Monday identified the antiquities as those stolen in April 1990 from the Archaeology Museum in Corinth, 50 miles southwest of Athens. At the time, police said at least four people broke into the building, tied up the guard, cleaned out most of the museum's displays, loaded the objects onto trucks and disappeared. ``It was like moving a whole museum,'' Papazoi said. The museum has since been fitted with an alarm system. In 1997, the Greek culture ministry received information that the stolen artifacts had been transported to the United States. The stolen antiquities include such rare pieces as a 5th century B.C. marble head of a young man known as a Kouros; a small marble statue of Pan, the pastoral god of fertility; 13 marble sculpted heads dating back to the Hellenistic and Roman periods; and 164 varied pouring vessels, urns and wine jugs. The three items still missing are a marble bust of Julius Caesar, thought to have been carved after his death in 44 B.C., and carved marble heads of Eros and the Ptolemaic god Serapis. The antiquities were taken to FBI offices in New York and should be returned to Greece within two months, Papazoi said.


From: "Steven Lewis" dryp@javanet.com Subject:

PRESS RELEASE: 1999/2000 DISASTER RECOVERY SOURCEBOOK NOW AVAILABLE

(This message has been abbreviated. If you want additional information please contact the orginal sender. TC)
Contact: Steven Lewis TEL:617-332-3496 E-mail:
dryp@Javanet.COM
FAX: 617-332-4358

1999/2000 EDITION OF THE DISASTER RECOVERY YELLOW PAGES(tm) BEGINS SHIPMENTS - - - coincides with yet another disastrous season

Newton, MA -- The 1999/2000 edition of the Disaster Recovery Yellow Pages(tm), by The Systems Audit Group, Inc. has begun shipping, coincidentally during one of the most disastrous seasons in recent history. Based on nearly two decades of disaster planning experience, the Disaster Recovery Yellow Pages(tm) is a 320-page, comprehensive sourcebook designed to help users locate scores of crucial but hard-to-find recovery services throughout the United States and Canada. It contains over 3000 vendors and covers over 350 categories such as drying & dehumidification of paper & microfilm records, smoke odor counteracting services, trauma counselors, emergency rental of POS and other computer equipment, etc.

From: "William A. Heidecker" heideckerwa@worldnet.att.net Subject:

Contingency Planning for Storms

Storm Preparation

With whatever hurricane it is that is bearing down on the east coast of the U.S., some thoughts about contingency planning for cultural institutions:
Water and Wind: What happens if water enters the building as a result of roof damage, window breakage, or flooding? Are any valuable objects stored below grade? If so, consider relocating them to a higher elevation until the danger passes. Relocation during a storm may not be practical. Are materials and expertise available to protect objects that may be exposed to wind and water if the building is damaged?
Electrical power: What happens if electrical power is lost for an extended duration? Loss of power may affect security systems, fire detection/suppression systems, and some telephone systems in addition to lighting, computers, etc. If the building has an emergency generator, have its mechanical condition checked and ensure sufficient fuel is available for two to three days continuous operation.
Telephone/Alarm Service: What happens if telephone service is interrupted for an extended period? How might this affect alarm systems that transmit signals to external alarm monitoring facilities? If the contingency plan calls for using cellular telephones for communications, are sufficient telephones and extra batteries available and charged? Remember that cell phones depend on antennae and these antennae will be exposed to the full force of the storm. Are telephone lists printed and available without the need to access computer systems? Can the lists reasonably be found by someone forced to look for them-and read them-using a hand-held flashlight?
Staff considerations: What happens if streets are impassible for days? Can security guards and other staff who must remain in the building be provided with food, water, dry clothing, blankets/bedrolls, etc. for two days and nights or more until they can be relieved? Are extra guards available so that one or more guards are (we hope!) alert and awake at all times? Do not assume that criminals will not take advantage of inclement weather to ply their trade. What better time to commit a theft than when alarm systems are inoperable, guards and staff may be suffering from anxiety and/or fatigue, and the police are occupied with various storm-related emergencies?
Medical considerations: Persons with a history of serious medical conditions (e.g., heart condition, asthma, stroke, etc.) should not be permitted to remain at the site during a storm because the additional stress may trigger a medical emergency. One must assume that emergency medical service will be disrupted during a severe storm. A staff member suffering an serious injury or other medical emergency will require the assistance of two or more other staff members. Thus one medical emergency means at least three persons who are then unavailable for service to the institution. Even if everyone seems to be healthy, it might be wise to include someone with some knowledge of emergency medicine to be available. This could be a nurse, paramedic, volunteer firefighter, or simply someone who has had first-aid or CPR training. Medical considerations aside, such persons are less like to panic if an emergency situation arises.
Emergency supplies: Consider the following emergency supplies: flashlights, batteries, mops, rags/toweling, squeegees, wet-vacuums, plastic sheeting and/or tarpaulins and, if feasible, material for emergency window repairs.
Self-sufficiency: Intense storms, such as this hurricane may be, can effectively isolate cultural institutions as well as others whose assistance to the institution may be needed. Therefore, the prudent planner will assume that an intense storm will occur, that the municipality's infrastructure (e.g., roads, utilities, emergency services, etc.) will be impaired, and that the institution, and those in it, will effectively be on their own for two days or more. It is a nightmare scenario, but one whose effects can be mitigated by good planning and strong leadership.

From: "Sally Shelton" shelton.sally@nmnh.si.edu
Subject:

Follow-up: frozen collections at Field Museum

The following was posted to AVECOL-L and is reposted here with Dr. Hackett's explicit permission. Several people had expressed concern off-list about the effects of a partial power loss on the Field Museum's frozen tissue collections: here is the definitive answer. Please send off-list queries directly to Dr. Hackett. sys
Forwarded from Shannon Hackett shackett@fmppr.fmnh.org
Originally posted to AVECOL-L avecol-l@listserv.lsu.edu
A number of people seem interested/concerned by a recent power outage at the Field Museum. Here is a little information on this problem and our thoughts on how to prepare for major problems. Thanks to all who expressed their concerns for our collections. We look forward to hearing additional solutions that others have come up with for safeguarding these valuable collections. First thing to note--we have a totally incompetent power company and cannot expect good or regular power to the building.
Here is what happened. First and foremost, no collections were damaged by the outage and in reality, our security and facility planning staff did a great job alerting scientific staff that the power was out (this has always been the case for us). As a result, no collections were really in significant danger. A number of people came in to help with making sure things were kept at temperature. This involved buying dry ice as a precautionary measure, but more importantly it involved running extension chords from parts of the building with power to freezers and incubators in areas without power. The legacy of the event is that our facilities planning staff were made clearly aware that these collections had to be a priority for emergency power. This is something that has not been appreciated. They have moved very quickly to identify the freezers and other equipment that we consider critical. Unlike our neighbor, the Shedd Aquarium, our museum does not have a backup generator and we are unlikely to ever have one for the entire museum. We believe, however, that if there were future power outages, which is not outside the realm of possibilities, given what appears to be a very serious situation with regard to the power grid maintained by Com Ed in the Chicago area, we will have an emergency generator to provide power to our collection freezers and other critical equipment. Beyond that it seems to us that the move being made by our bird and mammal divisions to liquid nitrogen storage provides best solution we can think of to avoid the effects of future power outages on material stored at ultra-cold temperatures (these tanks can simply be filled with nitrogen manually if necessary and they hold temperature much better than any freezer).
Here are some additional thoughts.