Max Braunthal

Max Julius Braunthal (July 20 1878 in Breslau (Silésie) - November 8 1946 in Paris), was a German Jewish art collector and survivor of the Veld'Hiv roundup, as well as deportation to Drancy and Gurs internment camp. In February 2026 Braunthal's heirs filed a lawsuit in France against the Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York demanding the restitution of a painting by Pissarro, Haystacks, Morning, Eragny, 1899.[1]

Biography

Maximilian Julius Braunthal was born on July 20, 1878, in Breslau (Silesia), Germany.

Max Braunthal's first wife was Else Bork (born January 15, 1881, in Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Germany).[2] They had three children: Erich Braunthal (1905-1966), an artist who studied with Max Liebermann[3]; Lotte Cecile Braunthal (1907-1994), who managed to reach the United States; and Annaliese Cohen, born on April 28, 1913, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and died on February 11, 1944, in Auschwitz.[4]

Max Braunthal divorced Else Bork and remarried Charlotte Silbermann. They had no children.

Art collection

Braunthal started collecting paintings, drawings and etchings in 1902. His collection included Max Liebermann[5][2], Franz von Lenbach, Adolph Menzel, Wilhelm Trübner, Fritz von Uhde, Honoré Daumier, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Gustave Courbet[6], Alfred Sisley, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot[7] as well as Camille Pissarro[8].

Nazi era persecution and loss

When Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany in 1933, Braunthal was persecuted due to his Jewish heritage. His property was confiscated. His German citizenship was revoked by the Nazi regime. To escape Nazi antisemitism, Max Braunthal sought refuge in France, taking some of his possessions with him[9], including the Pissarro painting. In 1941, without financial resources, Max Braunthal and his wife Charlotte Braunthal sold the Pissarro painting for 100,000 francs to the Galerie Durand-Ruel, which specialized in Impressionist works.[10]

Max Braunthal and Charlotte Braunthal were arrested in the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup. The Nazis confiscated the rest of their art collection, claiming it belonged to the German national heritage. The Braunthals were imprisoned in the French internments camp in Drancy and Gurs, but survived.[10] Max Braunthal died in 1946 in Paris.[11]

Braunthal's sister Malchen "Maly" Hamburger (Braunthal) (1873 - 1942) was deported by Nazis and murdered in Theresienstadt on September 29, 1942[12].

On February 17 1941, the Braunthals sold their painting by Camille Pissarro, Haystacks, Morning, Éragny (1889) to the Durand-Ruel gallery.[13] [14] Within two weeks, the gallery had resold the painting for 140,000 francs, a 40 percent profit, to Wolfgang Krueger, a German dealer who, like Durand-Ruel, would later appear on the Art Looting Investigation Unit Red Flag List.[15] Krueger sold it in 1958, and it passed through the hands of two owners before being acquired by the Knoedler Gallery in New York, and purchased in 1959 by Douglas Dillon (1909–2003), former chairman of the Metropolitan Museum's Board of Trustees.[16][17][18]

Claims for restitution

The Braunthal family has made claims for the restitution of artworks. As of 2026 they had 26 artworks registered on the German Lost Art Foundation's Lostart Website.[19]

In 2023 Le Drame by Honoré Daumier was the object of a settlement agreement.[20]

Seven heirs of the couple are suing the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for the return of Camille Pissarro's Haystacks, Morning, Éragny in a French court.[21] For five years, they have been asking the Museum to return the painting to the family, without success. The painting had been donated to the Museum by its former president. Douglas Dillon en 2003.[22]

Readings

See also

The Holocaust in France

Aryanization

List of Claims for Restitution for Nazi-looted art

Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016


References

  1. ^ Miller, Leigh Anne (2026-02-03). "Jewish Heirs File Suit in French Court Regarding Met's Ownership of Pissarro Painting". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2026-03-07.
  2. ^ a b "Braunthal, Max | Proveana". www.proveana.de. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
  3. ^ "PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE FAMILY COLLECTION HONORÉ DAUMIER (1808-1879) Le Drame". christies.com. The Braunthal's precarious situation worsened after the occupation of France: their apartment was confiscated and Max and Lotte were interned in the camps at Drancy and Gurs, before going into hiding. The couple returned to their home after the war but Max Braunthal died shortly after, in 1946. Max's son Erich (1905-1966), an artist who studied under Max Liebermann, survived the war in France and his daughter Lotte Cecile (1907-1994) had been able to flee to the US. However, his second daughter Anneliese (1913-1944) and her husband Herbert Cohen (1901-1944) were killed in Auschwitz.
  4. ^ "Anneliese Cohen". @yadvashem. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
  5. ^ "Max Liebermann Selbstporträt des Künstlers mit Skizzenbuch" (PDF).
  6. ^ "Vue d'Ornans - POP". pop.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
  7. ^ "PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE FAMILY COLLECTION HONORÉ DAUMIER (1808-1879) Le Drame". christies.com.
  8. ^ Shapiro, Jamie (2026-02-04). "Heirs of Jewish art collector sue New York Met over 'illegally acquired' Pissarro painting". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
  9. ^ "PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE FAMILY COLLECTION HONORÉ DAUMIER (1808-1879) Le Drame". christies.com. Although Max Braunthal had left Germany before the Nazis came to power in 1933, he was cut off from his remaining belongings and assets in Germany and obliged to pay discriminative taxes to the Nazi authorities there. To meet these obligations and to support his family, Braunthal started to sell the artworks from his collection which he had managed to bring to France; these dispersed artworks are the focus of the current family's restitution efforts.
  10. ^ a b Mashberg, Tom (2026-02-03). "Jewish Heirs Say Met Museum Pissarro Was Sold Under Nazi-Era Duress". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-03-06.
  11. ^ "Une collection douteuse - Le Temps" (in French). 2017-11-03. ISSN 1423-3967. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
  12. ^ "Malie Hamburger". @yadvashem. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
  13. ^ "Heuhaufen, Morgen, Eragny | Lost Art-Datenbank". www.lostart.de. Retrieved 2026-03-18. Sammlung Max Braunthal, Frankfurt, Deutschland, und Neuilly-sur-Seine, Frankreich (Erwerb zu einem unbekannten Zeitpunkt); Zwangsversteigerung durch Max Braunthal am 17. Februar 1941 für 100.000 Fr. an die Kunstgalerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, Frankreich; [...]; derzeitiger Standort: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Nachlass von Douglas Dillon, New York, 2003 (Akzessionsnummer 2004.359)
  14. ^ "Camille Pissarro - Haystacks, Morning, Eragny - The Metropolitan Museum of Art". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
  15. ^ "Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
  16. ^ Edit (2026-02-04). "Jewish art collector's heirs sue NYC's Met Museum for Pissarro painting sold under Nazi duress". The Times of Israel. ISSN 0040-7909. Retrieved 2026-03-06.
  17. ^ "Haystacks, Morning, Eragny | Lost Art Database". www.lostart.de. Retrieved 2026-03-06.
  18. ^ "The Douglas Dillon Legacy". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
  19. ^ "Braunthal, Max | Lost Art-Datenbank". www.lostart.de. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
  20. ^ "PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE FAMILY COLLECTION HONORÉ DAUMIER (1808-1879) Le Drame". christies.com. Galerie Thannhauser, Lucerne (by 1916). Max Braunthal, Frankfurt-am-Main and Paris (acquired from the above 18 May 1926, until at least April 1939). with Sam Salz, Paris (acquired from the above, 1939). Wildenstein & Co. Ltd, London (acquired from the above, 13 May 1939). Wildenstein & Co. Inc., New York (acquired from the above). Oliver B. James, Phoenix (acquired from the above, June 1952); Estate sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, 19 October 1955, lot 45. Acquired by the family of the present owners, circa 1955. Please note that the present work is being offered for sale pursuant to a settlement agreement between the current owner and heirs of Max Braunthal. The settlement agreement resolves the dispute over ownership of the work and title will pass to the successful bidder.
  21. ^ Mercuzio, Roberto. "Sette eredi Braunthal contro il Metropolitan Museum per la restituzione di un Pissarro - Il Giornale dell'Arte". www.ilgiornaledellarte.com/Articolo/Sette-eredi-Braunthal-contro-il-Metropolitan-Museum-per-la-restituzione-di-un-Pissarro. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
  22. ^ Mashberg, Tom (2026-02-03). "Jewish Heirs Say Met Museum Pissarro Was Sold Under Nazi-Era Duress". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-03-06.


See also

[[Category:Metropolitan Museum of Art]] [[Category:Silesians]] [[Category:WikiProject Germany articles]] [[Category:Wikipedia requested images of people]] [[Category:Pages with unreviewed translations]]

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