By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
SOHO — Eleven of 40 valuable paintings missing since 1945 will soon be returned to Germany, bringing a decades-old wartime mystery to an end — almost.
The story of the paintings, removed by U.S. troops from an air-raid shelter in the German town of Pirmasens, was described in ceremonies Wednesday at the Goethe Institute at 72 Spring Street.
The 11 paintings had been in the possession of a former US Army Sergeant, Harry Gurskey, who had been stationed in Pirmasens during the Allied invasion. Gurskey, who died in 1988, had left the paintings to his grand-niece, Beth Ann McFadden, whose curiosity led to her discovery of the paintings' origins — and her decision to help return them to their rightful owners.
“My dad was a minister, so I grew up knowing the right thing to do,” said McFadden, who lives in North Carolina.
After researching the paintings’ provenance and discovering their roots in Pirmasens — a city of about 40,000 near the French border — McFadden contacted German authorities and learned that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE, had an open investigation into the case.
The repatriated paintings range in value from $50,000 for each of three works by Pirmasens native Heinrich Buerkel, to $4,000 each for seven oil portraits of the children of Ludwig IX. Another painting, by Alois Broch, is valued at $10,000.
McFadden said she wouldn’t miss the paintings, which she mostly kept wrapped up. She said she never wavered in her belief that the paintings should be returned, though she did fret over the possibility that reporting them to ICE could in some way get her family into trouble.
“You think you are doing a good thing sometimes, but other people may not,” McFadden said.
James Hayes, the special agent in charge of New York's ICE office, expressed hope that McFadden’s example would encourage others who might have information about the whereabouts of the other 29 paintings still missing to come forward.
The Pirmasens investigation is part of a collaborative effort between ICE and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District to locate and return precious artwork and antiquities.
Responding to questions about the legal basis for returning paintings to the country responsible for instigating World War II, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, "Property is property, and theft is theft."
For his part, German Consul General Dr. Horst Freitag expressed gratitude to McFadden. He read aloud from a letter written by Pirmasens’ current mayor, Bernhard Matheis, who has invited McFadden to visit.
“I didn’t know until now that Santa Claus had an office in North Carolina,” he wrote. “I am now sure that Santa’s workshop is also in New York.”
