The General Director of the Bavarian State Painting Collections, Bernhard Maaz, gives up his office. Bavaria’s Minister of Science and Art, Markus Blume, announced this at a press conference on Wednesday in Munich. The reason is the revelations of the SZ to irregularities and transparency in provenance research on works of art and in dealing with the heirs of the Jewish owners robbed during the Nazi era. For Bavaria’s museums, a fundamental new beginning is necessary to restore the destroyed trust.
Exclusive
:Red alarm level
The SZ has internal reports that suggest that there are 200 Nazi robbery works of art in the Bavarian State Painting Collections, including Picasso and Klee. The descendants of the mostly Jewish owners are left in the dark to this day.
Anton Biebl, the former Munich cultural officer, becomes the interim manager of the more than a dozen museums, which includes the Pinakotheken in Munich. Blume also announced that a group of experts would examine provenance research at the state paintings. A prosecutor will also provide information on the Munich Pinakotheken as a “investigation leader” “allegations and organizational failure”, said Blume. Blume did not want to give details.