Germany: PEGIDA Swarm Munich in Anti-refugee March

Modernist Art Haul, 'Looted by Nazis', Recovered by German Police

Hitler shows off modernist, impressionist and cubist art in Berlin in 1939

THE GUARDIAN: About 1500 works, includining pieces by Chagall, Klee, Matisse and Picasso, had been considered lost until raid in Schwabing

About 1,500 modernist masterpieces – thought to have been looted by the Nazis – have been confiscated from the flat of an 80-year-old man from Munich, in what is being described as the biggest artistic find of the postwar era.

The artworks, which could be worth as much as €1bn (£860m), are said to include pieces by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, Max Beckmann and Emil Nolde. They had been considered lost until now, according to a report in the German news weekly Focus.

The works, which would originally have been confiscated as "degenerate art" by the Nazis or taken from Jewish collectors in the 1930s and 1940s, had made their way into the hands of a German art collector, Hildebrand Gurlitt. When Gurlitt died, the artworks were passed down to his son, Cornelius – all without the knowledge of the authorities.

Gurlitt, who had not previously been on the radar of the police, attracted the attention of the customs authorities only after a random cash check during a train journey from Switzerland to Munich in 2010, according to Focus. Further police investigations led to a raid on Gurlitt's flat in Schwabing in spring 2011. Police discovered a vast collection of masterpieces by some of the world's greatest artists. » | Philip Oltermann in Berlin | Monday, November 04, 2013

German Court Bans ‘Mein Kampf’ Extracts
EXPATICA – GERMANY: A German court has banned a British publisher from printing extracts of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf", upholding a ruling that doing so would break copyright laws.

Peter McGee, who planned to publish parts of the anti-Semitic book alongside commentary from historians, vowed to appeal against the decision but said he would respect the ruling and refrain from publication for now.

The court in the city of Munich ruled in favour of the southern state of Bavaria, which holds the rights to all publications from the main Nazi publishing house and had sought to block the book's appearance.

"He has been dead for 70 years but Adolf Hitler is still keeping the courts busy," the regional court in Munich said in a statement.

Confirming an earlier decision from January, the court concluded: "To shorten a work and add explanations and comments does not give rights over the... published original work." » | Thursday, March 08, 2012

Adolf Hitler Auction Causes Uproar
THE AUSTRALIAN: ORGANISERS of an auction of Adolf Hitler's reading glasses and other personal effects were on the verge of abandoning the sale last night after an outcry over profiting from Germany's Nazi past.

The Fu[e]hrer's glasses were due to be put up for auction for a reserve price of €4800 ($A6700) at a Munich auction house this month, while bidding for a silver cigarette case monogrammed with the initials of the non-smoking dictator was set to begin at €10,000.

Stung by accusations that the sale was a "stain" on modern Germany, Hermann Historica, the auction house, issued a statement last night insisting that it never intended to cause offence and had not sought publicity for the items on sale.

But it refused to confirm who would receive the money, although some items, such as a fob watch starting at €10,000, were believed to originate from the estate of Rudolf Hess, Hitler's former deputy.

There were also items of cutlery with A.H. monograms for €1800, and a Hitler Youth badge encrusted with diamonds and rubies, given to the Fu[e]hrer in 1942, marked up for €22,000.

While public display of the swastika is illegal in Germany, and they have been carefully airbrushed out of the auction catalogue, there is no ban on the sale of Nazi memorabilia. » | David Charter | The Times | Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Avoid Munich Mistake – By Uzi Landau
YNET NEWS – OPINION: Ex-MK Landau advises Condoleezza Rice to steer clear of Chamberlain-style appeasement policy

Dear Secretary of State, Ms. Condoleezza Rice:

I don’t know what’s the weather like in Maryland these days, but in any case, kindly accept my suggestion: Even if it rains, do not use a black umbrella.

My name is Uzi Landau, I served as a minister in two Israeli governments, and have been a Knesset member for 22 years, but I write this letter to you as the son of Olga Perle, who escaped Nazi Germany with her family in 1937. Her parents realized that the Nazi monster’s evil government cannot be satisfied. To the Western world’s regret, then-British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was not wise enough to understand this.

Chamberlain’s appeasement policy and attempt to curry favor with Hitler reached its peak in the 1938 Munich Conference. Even though Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles, armed the Wehrmacht in violation of agreements, and took over Austria through the famous Anschluss, ahead of Munich he did not hesitate to demand the dismantlement of Czechoslovakia and annexation of parts of it to Germany.

Chamberlain sacrificed his ally. Upon his return to Britain, with his black umbrella, he declared: “I believe it is peace for our time.” And the rest is history.

Today, Nazi Germany has been replaced by Iran and al-Qaeda; instead of Hitler, we have Ahmadinejad and Bin Laden. Ms. Rice, would you like to be remembered as the Chamberlain of the 21st Century?

Iran and al-Qaeda stimulate global terror. Palestinian terrorism is their ally. The ideology that motivates them is a desire to defeat and occupy the West in order to see Islam reign supreme. If you doubt this, apparently you have not listened to Ahmadinejad’s speeches at the United Nations and in Columbia University: Not merely a vision of a world without Israel, but rather, a world without democracy.

Just like Germany, which armed itself to the teeth, Iran too neglects the welfare of its poor citizens and invests in the planned production of dozens of nuclear bombs a year and the development of ballistic missiles that can reach the US. For Iran, Israel is merely Little Satan. America is Big Satan. The scent of Munich is in the air. Can’t you feel it? >>>

Mark Alexander