Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., and Ivan J. Arvelo, Special Agent in Charge at Homeland Security Investigations, New York, today announced the return of seven artworks to the family of Fritz Grünbaum, an Austrian-Jewish cabaret performer whose art collection was stolen by the Nazi regime. The drawings, all from Austrian artist Egon Schiele, were seized by the Office’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit in 2023 from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); The Ronald Lauder Collection; The Morgan Library; The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA); and the Vally Sabarsky Trust in Manhattan. The seven pieces were officially returned to the legal heirs and Trustees of Grünbaum’s art collection at a ceremony in the District Attorney’s Office.

All seven drawings were seized and voluntarily surrendered by the holding institutions and estates after they were presented with evidence that they were stolen by the Nazis.

“Frtiz Grünbaum was a man of incredible depth and spirit, and his memory lives on through the artworks that are finally being returned to his relatives. I hope this moment can serve as a reminder that despite the horrific death and destruction caused by the Nazis, it is never too late to recover some of what we lost, honor the victims, and reflect on how their families are still impacted to this day. We still have so much to learn from Fritz Grünbaum and these seven pieces that he found…