Posted: Thursday, 3rd May 2007
鈥淭he Austrians tried to say later that they were victims. They were no victims. They were totally happy鈥 cheering, the church bells were ringing,鈥 recalls Maria Altmann of the day the Nazis marched into Vienna. 鈥淭he women threw flowers at the soldiers and there was tremendous jubilation in the streets. Everything changed.鈥
Maria, niece of Gustav Klimt鈥檚 muse Adele Bloch-Bauer, recounts for Imagine鈥 the personal story of how her privileged family鈥檚 belongings were gradually stolen by the Nazis, amongst them several Klimt paintings of her aunt. The Golden Portrait, which was until recently the most expensive painting in the world, went on to make up part of the Nazi's collection of art.
鈥淎dolf Hitler, the young Austrian born artist, had come to Vienna with dreams of becoming a great painter,鈥 explains Alan Yentob. 鈥淗e spent 9 unsuccessful years trying to earn his living as an artist. But time and again he was rejected but Vienna鈥檚 prestigious Academy of Art. Meanwhile Gustav Klimt had established himself as one of the most prominent members of Vienna鈥檚 school of Art Nouveau.鈥
In a story that needs no Hollywood dramatisation, Maria remembers saving her husband from Dachau concentration camp and escaping Austria with her husband and children to arrive in New York with nothing. Back in Austria her uncle was taken by the Nazis under false claims of tax evasion and all his possessions, including the Golden Portrait of his then deceased wife, were taken. In this moving episode of Imagine鈥 we hear Maria鈥檚 personal testimony about her painful struggle to recover her family鈥檚 once treasured possessions, which, as Alan Yentob explains, forced 鈥渁ll sides to confront painful memories about Austria鈥檚 past and uncomfortable truths about the legitimacy of its cultural legacy.鈥
