Mar del Plata, Argentina (AP)-Officers of Justice in Argentina accused the daughter of a fugitive Nazi officer of trying to hide an 18th-century painting for authorities after revelations that it had been stolen from a Jewish art dealer during the Second World War.
The federal public prosecutor who was responsible for the case announced the cover on a day after Patricia Kadgien, one of the daughters of Nazi officer Friedrich Kadgien at a high level, handed 'portrait of a lady' by the Italian artist Giuseppe Ghislandi to the Argentinian judge.
The fate of the work remains unclear, awaiting a decision in the case. The heir of Jacques Goudstikker-De Nederlandsers-Jewish art collector who owned the painting before Nazi's world-famous inventory seized-has made a legal claim to get the painting back, her lawyers said.
Goudstikker died in a shipwreck in 1940 while fled the Netherlands while German troops were improved. He sold his collection, including Rembrandts and Vermeers, under Duress and far below the market price. At least 1,100 stolen works from his gallery remain missing.
The Argentinian court has asked that the painting is being shown at the Holocaust Museum in Buenos Aires prior to a further transfer abroad. The museum did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Patricia Kadgien, 59, and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, 62, were arrested under home on suspicion of hiding the painting since the police entered their house for the second time on Monday without finding their house without 'portrait of a lady'.
Kadgien, with confused dirty blond hair and sunglasses on her head, wore a look that caused concern and confusion mixed when she listened to the public prosecutor Carlos Martínez in a jam-packed courtroom. Martínez said that the efforts of Kadgien and her husband to hide the painting for several days after the sudden appearance in a real estate list landed on obstructing justice.
Cortegoso stared straight ahead, cross his arms and a severe expression on his face.
After the hearing, the couple was released from house arrest, but forbidden to travel abroad and to inform the court when they leave their registered address.
Photos of the painting that hangs in the living room of Kadgien in Mar del Plata, found for the first time in eight decades in an online real estate advertisement last month.
Dutch journalists who investigate Kadgien's past in Argentina – where he sought refuge after the collapse of the Third Reich – saw 'portrait of a lady' who hung above a green velvet sofa in the living room during a 3D tour through the house for sale.
After he recognized it as the same portrait that was missing in International Archives or Nazi-Looted Art, the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad published an exposé on 25 August that took newspapers around the world.
Alarmed by International Police Agency Interpol, Argentinian authorities fell over the house and other property of Patricia Kadgien and her sister Alicia, who seized a gun, a revolver of .32 caliber and various paintings from the 19th-century that they suspect were stolen in the same way during the Second World War.
But the police could not find 'portrait of a lady'. They found Scuff Marks and a pastoral carpet on the living room wall of Patricia Kakgien where the portrait was photographed.
The real estate advertisement, posted for the first time in February, was quickly removed. The prosecutors said on Thursday that security images showed people that the sign “For Sale” from Kadgien's front garden removed as the media supervisor increased last week.
When presenting the charges, Martínez told the court that the couple “was aware that the artwork was sought by the criminal justice system and international authorities”, but nevertheless took it to hide it.
“It was only after several police raids that they submitted it,” he said.
With the defendants under house arrest on Monday, their lawyer, Carlos Murias, submitted a petition to a civil court in Mar del Plata with the question that Kadgien was allowed to auction the painting.
The court rejected the request and argued that the jurisdiction was missing in view of the origin of the painting.
Public Prosecutor Martínez said on Thursday that his office was informed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Marei von Saher, the heir of art dealer Goudstikker, submitted a legal claim to “portrait of a lady” at the office of the office in New York.
The FBI refused to comment.
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Debre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
