In 2019, the painting was still in the Museum of Army History in Vienna. What was the surname?. In our childhood she captivated myself and my three brothers with stories of post-First-World-War Vienna, in which Freud, Kokoschka or Mahler had walk-on parts. The family members were known for their connoisseurship, intellectual interests, and their huge collections of art. Oh yes, she said, with barely feigned interest. Therefore, I thank Dr. Spera for proposing this good solution and thus the painting can return to the family., The Managing Director of Wien Holding, the company that owns the Jewish Museum Vienna, Kurt Gollowitzer expressed similar sentiments, With the exhibition at the Jewish Museum Vienna The Ephrussis A Journey through Time, the public was given an interesting insight into the history and life of one of the most important European-Jewish families of the 19th and 20th centuries in 2019 and 2020. The painting was part of the Ephrussis art collection and was confiscated by the Nazis after the annexation of Austria during the raid on the Ephrussi Palace. Masatoshi (sign.). A sense of trepidation lingered around the name of Odessa for my great-uncle, more than a century on. In 1938, the familys properties and bank in Austria, controlled by Viktor Ephrussi, were seized by the Nazis after the Nazi annexation of Austria. As Jennifer slows to a stop at a red light, another car, driven by Amanda, slams into her from the rear, shoving her car into the car ahead of her. But after the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938, the familys downfall was swift: their property was seized, their home occupied, their bank erased from the business register. However, the painting had already been restituted to Iggie Ephrussi. The Ephrussi family (French pronunciation:[fysi]) is a Ukrainian Jewish banking and oil dynasty. God of small things. The book, The Hare with Amber Eyes, has won many literary honors including the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Costa Biography Award and has been translated into over 30 languages. Read the @nytimes exhibition review of The Sassoons, open now at the Jewish Museum! More specifically, rightful ownership of the painting has been given to the heirs of Austrian Banker Viktor Ephrussi. Experience the Museum as a member and take advantage of unlimited free admission, valuable discounts, private previews and events, and much more! Many of Viktor Ephrussis innumerable possessions are still missing today, including 19 paintings from a collection consisting of around 70 works at the time. New York, NY 10128 Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. What stone do you think it is? he said. The most recent member of the family to inherit the collection, author and ceramicist Edmund de Waal, drew from them the inspiration for his memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes, continuing the familys storied legacy of artistic and cultural pursuits. It spans the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, encompassing everything from luxury and high social status to Nazi brutality, and moves across Europe to the Far East and back. The federal government, by proxy of Federal Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner, authorized the Jewish Museum to carry out the restitution. Identifiers. Already a member? ftI UM i ( '-. #TheSassoons thejm.net/41DBZD7 In 2019, the painting was still at the Museum of Military History in Vienna. Originally grain merchants based in Odessa, the Ephrussis became the . Families! Example of Restitution in a Personal Injury Case. It was Edmund de Waal who took up the challenge of retelling the family story in his best-selling book, which has so far been translated into 20 languages. I knew that Elisabeths father Viktor the man after whom my own father was named had been born in Odessa. Explore the mizrah by Israel Dov Rosenbaum that inspired @kehindewileyart, and the intersectional family story behi twitter.com/i/web/status/1, On 3/12 visitors with intellectual or developmental disabilities and their families are invited to explore the exhi, Now open! The family's bank and properties were seizedby the Naziauthorities after the 1938 Anschlussannexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. In the summer of 1994, I visited Odessa. Please use the following structure: example@domain.com, Send me The Times of Israel Daily Edition. Another moving chapter in the story of the Viennese Jewish Ephrussi family -- made famous in the book The Hare With Amber Eyes -- has been written after around 40 members of the family reunited in the Austrian capital for the first time in decades. Death: 1938 (58-59) Kovecses-hegy, Csatka, Hungary. He was tall, a bit haggard and spoke with a voice turned to gravel by thousands of packets of Soviet cigarettes. Sadly, Iggie died three months after he sent me the letter. Ephrussi family. You see, Thomas, there are two factors which remain unexplained to us to this date, he went on. Thanks to the research for the 2019 exhibition The Ephrussis. 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The Ephrussi family is a Russian Jewish banking and oil dynasty descending from Charles Joachim Ephrussi. As one of the most prominent Jewish families in Europe, the Ephrussis became a major target as antisemitisim grew in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The Black Sea crossing had been turbulent. Through his activities, he befriended luminaries of the thriving Parisian art and literary scenes, including Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet among the Impressionists, Jules Laforgue the symbolist poet, and writer Marcel Proust. His descendants continued to grow the familys wealth and influence as financiers, becoming peers of the Rothschild family, and expanding their presence across the major capitals of Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish migrants streamed in to find work. Today, we are featuring a twitter.com/i/web/status/1 The Htel Ephrussi was a family house, but it was also the Parisian headquarters of a family in its ascendancy. Therefore, I would like to thank Dr. Spera for suggesting this good solution, so that the painting can return to the family, said Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner. Gathered for the occasion from all over Europe, the United States and Mexico, some of the family previously had only a vague idea of what earlier generations had suffered. The restrictions imposed on Jews elsewhere in the empire were waived here in the name of commerce. These are still mysteries to me. Amazingly, a sense of trepidation lingered around the name of Odessa for my great-uncle, more than a century on. His eldest daughter, age 25, immediately ascended the throne as Elizabeth II and her coronation was on June 2 1953. I had to understand first of all, he said, that Odessa was once the biggest grain-exporting port in Europe. Please check individual images for licensing details. In 2019, however, the legal inheritance had not yet been investigated, so this was not possible. The guesses of myself, my brother and Jewish Museum colleagues lead us to suppose that one younger brother named Stepan stuck it out in Odessa, in defiance of the rest of the family. With a fortune worth millions, Viktor Ephrussi (1860-1945), son of a Grnder (a pioneer in new Austria), divided his time between the family palace on Vienna's Ringstrasse and their country house, Kvesces, located in the former Czechoslovakia two hours by train from Vienna. YouTube Encyclopedic 1/2 Views: 982 586 Hidden Inheritance: Objects, Memories, and Collections Of Viktor Ephrussi's countless possessions, many are still lost today, including 19 paintings from a collection of about 70 works at the time. La Famille Ephrussi tait une famille influente de commerants et de banquiers juifs originaires d'Odessa (Empire russe), installs Paris dans les annes 1865-1870 et Vienne, alors dans l'empire austro-hongrois. Jewish Museum Vienna: Barbara Staudinger to Succeed Danielle Spera After 12 Years, 17,000 Descendants of Nazi Victims Demand Austrian Citizenship, Jewish Museum Vienna Opens Jedermann's Jews. A savage pogrom against the Jews in 1881 may have been the reason. Thanks to this, and other philanthropic gifts, the Ephrussis were made hereditary honorary citizens of Odessa, passed down through the male line. With a flourish Rozenboim concluded So I have the honour of congratulating an honorary citizen of Odessa!. Regarding the restitution, the Director of the Jewish Museum Vienna Dr. Danielle Spera said, It is a great pleasure that after the Jewish Museum Vienna received the generous donation of the Ephrussi family archive, we were able to help achieve the restitution of this painting. Its a city that is elegant but not grand, Russian-speaking but not in Russia, literary and ironic, at ease with its worldly decline. The Palais Ephrussi, seized by Nazis during the WWII, is seen in Vienna, Austria on November 7, 2019 (JOE KLAMAR / AFP) But after the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938, the family's downfall was. I came upon a website that shows there were some additional pieces of Ephrussi family property that were discovered in the "Depot of Moveables" as recently as 2000 that are still available for restitution. Plan your visit to the Jewish Museum and discover the intersection of art and Jewish culture During the research work for the exhibition The Ephrussis a Journey through Time in 2019, the curators Gabriele Kohlbauer-Fritz and Tom Juncker became aware that the painting in the Museum of Military History Camp Scene from 1848 in Italy should have been restituted according to a decision from 1948. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. More specifically, rightful ownership of the painting has been given to the heirs of Austrian Banker Viktor Ephrussi. This is why the President of the Federal Monuments Office, according to a memo, assured the Museum of Military History that the Franz Adam painting would be blocked instead of the Pettenkofen painting. In 1950, the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (HGM, Museum of Military History) wanted to stop the export of a painting by August Pettenkofen, which was part of the Ephrussi family possessions. Include in your discussion the issue of restitution after the war - who should get restitution for items "taken", how should the value be decided, what is fair both to the families whose art was taken . In 2005 the family house on the boulevard was the office of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Water Transport Company of Ukraine. The doctor apparently did not bother to come to work so often and the doorkeeper was happy to let me in. If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. In a sense, the Ephrussi story is the Jewish experience in microcosm: the retention of a family construct within the context of migration, integration, persecution, and dispersal. But there's another kind of restitution which is what we're doing today, which is bringing back a story to Vienna. The exhibition, on view at the Jewish Museum from November 19, 2021, through May 15 . 0 references . The second part of the piece is in the shape of a rotunda.On the ceiling, an illustration from the 18th century Venetian school depicting the Triumph of a patrician . This is why the President of the Federal Monuments Office, according to a memo, assured the Museum of Military History that the Franz Adam painting would be blocked instead of the Pettenkofen painting.