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The Search for My Family's Art Treasures Stolen by the Nazis
Scribner
September 2015
On Sale: August 25, 2015
368 pages
ISBN: 1451697635
EAN: 9781451697636
Kindle: B00P434E14
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction History
The passionate, gripping, true story of one man’s
single-minded quest to reclaim what the Nazis stole from his
family, their beloved art collection, and to restore their
legacy. Simon Goodman’s grandparents came from German-Jewish banking
dynasties and perished in concentration camps. And that’s
almost all he knew about them—his father rarely spoke of
their family history or heritage. But when he passed away,
and Simon received his father’s old papers, a story began to
emerge. The Gutmanns, as they were known then, rose from a small
Bohemian hamlet to become one of Germany’s most powerful
banking families. They also amassed a magnificent,
world-class art collection that included works by Degas,
Renoir, Botticelli, Guardi, and many, many others. But the
Nazi regime snatched from them everything they had worked to
build: their remarkable art, their immense wealth, their
prominent social standing, and their very lives. Simon grew up in London with little knowledge of his
father’s efforts to recover their family’s prized
possessions. It was only after his father’s death that Simon
began to piece together the clues about the Gutmanns’ stolen
legacy and the Nazi looting machine. He learned much of the
collection had gone to Hitler and Hermann Goering; other
works had been smuggled through Switzerland, sold and resold
to collectors and dealers, with many works now in famous
museums. More still had been recovered by Allied forces only
to be stolen again by heartless bureaucrats—European
governments quietly absorbed thousands of works of art into
their own collections. Through painstaking detective work
across two continents, Simon has been able to prove that
many works belonged to his family, and successfully secure
their return. With the help of his family, Simon initiated the first Nazi
looting case to be settled in the United States. They also
brought about the first major restitution in The Netherlands
since the post-war era. Goodman’s dramatic story, told with great heart, reveals a
rich family history almost obliterated by the Nazis. It is
not only the account of a twenty-year long detective hunt
for family treasure, but an unforgettable tale of redemption
and restoration.
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