Knut Kreuch was a 13-year-old schoolboy in 1979 when his town in East Germany was shaken by an audacious and baffling art heist. Five very old and valuable paintings were stolen from a museum within t...Show More
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Recommendations
rmmiller364 recommended:Jun 2nd, 2020
A super fascinating story of an art theft in East Germany, and decades later, a mayor’s attempts to recover the paintings
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epekilis recommended:Jun 6th, 2020
SPOILER ALERT Don’t want to spoil the ending so I’ll put my questions below. I’m curious about several things. 1) Does this sound like an inside job to anyone else? The mayor described this as the biggest art theft since the end of WWII, so it’s not an obscure incident. Doesn’t this sugges...Show More
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dannyJun 6th, 2020
HA :) really happy there's another person who listened to this and thought.. What?! You know, when I heard about the 30 year rule, I didn't think of it as a Nazi protection law, but that's a good point. I was just thinking it allows for the possibility of allowing the art to become public again, i...Show More
epekilisJun 6th, 2020
@danny I’m so confused about the ransom. It sounded like they paid, but then at 20:06 she says “Knute got them their paintings back and no money was ever handed over.” As for the foundation, I presumed (perhaps incorrectly) that it was a family foundation that had money for community arts and cul...Show More
epekilisJun 7th, 2020
I don’t know why but I became fascinated with the question of the 30 year limitation on return of stolen art (in this case, worth many $millions of dollars). Professor Google had lots to say on the subject. This article from an online arts journal discusses the complexity of the law in the broade...Show More
mm recommended:Jun 7th, 2020
A mini art heist mystery in 20 minutes! 5 very valuable paintings were stolen from a museum in Germany. Almost three decades later, a mayor decides he recover the paintings. This could potentially be a great dramatic film. The mayor was definitely pretty dramatic.
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