Nazi’s Daughter Gives Up Looted Painting To Argentine Cops

Canaan Lidor

AMSTERDAM — The daughter of a German Nazi who fled to Argentina has handed over to authorities an 18th-century painting believed to have been looted during World War II, Argentine prosecutors said last Wednesday.
The head of the Mar del Plata Prosecutor’s Office, Daniel Adler, announced the news at a press conference following a judge’s decision to place the daughter, Patricia Kadgien, and her husband under house arrest for 72 hours. They are suspected of interfering with an investigation into the whereabouts of “Portrait of a Lady” by the late-Baroque painter Fra Galgario, aka Giuseppe Ghislandi (1655-1743).
“Today, at approximately 2:00 p.m., the lawyer representing the individuals under investigation delivered the artwork” to the headquarters of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office, the federal prosecution’s website reported last Wednesday.
Law enforcement agents in Argentina raided the couple’s house in search of the painting, but the object had been removed by the time they arrived. Three additional raids were authorized at properties belonging to the couple but the painting was not found.
The raids followed a media report in the Netherlands about the early 18th-century painting, which was spotted on a real-estate listing for a property in Mar del Plata, situated some 25 miles south of Buenos Aires.
Algemeen Dagblad’s research into how the painting might have gotten there led to Friedrich Kadgien, who had served as Hermann Göring’s financial adviser. Kadgien fled to Argentina after World War II and died there in 1978. The property on sale belonged to his daughter Patricia.
Argentina’s Customs Collection and Control Agency (ARCA) last month asked the federal court in Mar del Plata to authorize it to seize the painting, but when agents arrived with the warrant, they found a tapestry in its place, along with old documents and firearms.

She is suspected of having tried to hide the 18-century portrait, believed stolen from Jewish art dealer

The couple petitioned the court to nullify the investigation, claiming the statute of limitation applied, according to La Nacion.
The painting belonged to Jewish Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, who sold it under duress in 1940.
Similar artworks by Giuseppe Ghislandi have fetched only several thousand dollars, and some even less, at auction in recent years.
Goudstikker’s sole heir, his daughter-in-law Marei von Saher, 81, has said she plans to file a claim and launch legal action to have the painting restored to her family.
Argentina officials said last Thursday they are investigating Kadgien and her husband after authorities recovered the iconic painting that had been missing for 80 years.
The piece will remain in Argentina as procedures begin for its potential return to the Netherlands or the original owner’s heirs, prosecutors said in a hearing last Thursday.
Kadgien and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, are under investigation for aggravated concealment, according to officials.
An Argentine judge lifted the couple’s house arrest but imposed an 180-day travel ban, ordering them to surrender their passports, and barred them from leaving their home for more than 24 hours without court approval.
The prosecutor said the couple attempted to obstruct the investigation by taking down the online real-estate listing, removing a “For Sale” sign, and replacing the painting with a tapestry ahead of a police raid.
Defense lawyer Carlos Murias denied concealment charges, saying his clients complied fully and were willing to hand over the painting. He dismissed claims of obstruction, saying the civil action was to determine ownership, not to hide the artwork.
Murias called a 180-day travel ban “excessive” but accepted it after clarification. He also agreed to send the painting to the Holocaust Museum for safekeeping.
During raids, investigators seized engravings, prints, drawings and two 19th-century paintings, officials said. If those works are determined to have been looted, there could be more charges against the couple.
The painting will be registered with Argentina’s Supreme Court. Prosecutors requested it be held at the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum, without public exhibition, while its ultimate ownership is determined. ◼