Battle for looted art pays off

PRAGUE -- The Israeli heirs of a Czech Jewish art lover, whose works were looted by the Nazis in 1939, have won a 40-year battle to win back a large portion of his unique collection of drawings.

Legal representatives for the descendants of Brno-based lawyer Arthur Feldmann recently signed a restitution agreement that will return 135 drawings by Dutch, Italian and German masters from the 16th to the 18th centuries, which currently are held in the Moravian Gallery.

"We are very moved that thanks to the Czech authorities the drawings have now been returned to our ownership after so many years," the family said in a statement released by Anne Webber, co-chair of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe, which has negotiated for the past two years for the return of the works on behalf of the family.