The Stealing Klimt Story

This is the story of the brave fight by Maria Altmann to recover five Klimt paintings stolen from her family by the Nazis in 1938. The "Stealing Klimt" documentary formed the inspiration for the movie, "Woman in Gold" and received a credit to that effect ("Inspired by the documentary, Stealing Klimt").

The paintings included the famous "Woman in Gold", the portrait of Maria's aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer. "Stealing Klimt" recounts Maria's youth in early 20th century Vienna, her nail-biting escape from the Nazis and her tenacious struggle to recover the five paintings.

Maria selected Randol Schoenberg, a Californian lawyer with a strong Austrian background, to represent her in her legal quest to recover the five Klimts. Maria and Randy were strenuously assisted by Hubertus Czernin, an Austrian journalist who had previously investigated and revealed the World War 2 activities of Kurt Waldheim, former President of Austria and UN Secretary General.

Maria's legal battle eventually ended up in the US Supreme Court where she had to face not only Austria but also the US State Department.

The US Supreme Court gave jurisdiction over Austria and an Austrian arbitration panel surprisingly then decided that the five paintings belonged to her. Ronald Lauder paid $135 million for the "Woman in Gold" to hang in his Neue Gallerie in NY. The other paintings were sold through Christies to private buyers. More information can be found at www.stealingklimt.com

References

The Stealing Klimt Story from the Stealing Klimt dvd www.stealingklimt.com