Swiss dealt in Nazi art
SWISS ART dealers played a big part in the trafficking of Nazi- looted art, but no one was ever punished, a government-commissioned report said yesterday. In fact, some dealers were compensated when they were forced to return the art.
Under a special law that lapsed in 1947, Switzerland's supreme court reviewed 77 cases of looting.
"In every case [the court]accepted that the buyers of looted property acted in good faith," said Thomas Buomberger, who co-ordinated the report.
As a result, the Swiss government compensated the Fischer Gallery in Lucerne, whose dealer handled more looted art than anyone else in Switzerland. Buomberger said a prime source for the gallery's purchases was Walter Andreas Hofer, head of the art collection of Hermann Goering.
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