Jonathan Petropoulos research and scholarship from 2008 to the present reaffirms that Fritz Grünbaum lost his art collection, including the Artworks, due to Nazispoliation. Historical records show that both Fritz Grünbaum’s property and the property of his wife and widow, Elisabeth Grünbaum (“Elisabeth”), were under the control of “Aryan” trustee Ludwig Rochlitzer who was appointed by the Nazis to liquidate their property in January 1939 pursuant to the 3 December 1938 Aryan Trustee Act.
In his striking report he summerizes and discusses the direct evidence showing Nazi control of Fritz Grünbaum’s art collection in 1939 through his death in 1941.

The evidence that the Nazis had custody of Fritz Grünbaum (imprisoned in the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps) and his artworks (stored and “blocked” in a Schenker & Co. warehouse, an entity utilized by the Nazis to despoil property) is overwhelming, reliable, and uncontroverted.

Jonathan Petropoulos Rebuttal Report