The Complicated Issue of Nazi-looted Art
by Sarah Lindenfeld Hall
“In 1928, Magda Mandel, a Hungarian Jew, donned a colorful striped sweater, rested her hand on her head and smiled for a personal family portrait. It’s a happy moment captured by a local painter that preceded tragedy. In 1944, Mandel’s family and other Jewish people who lived in Ungvar, Hungary—now Uzhhorod, Ukraine—were sent to Auschwitz. Mandel survived, but her parents died and her family’s possessions, including the painting, were lost.
by Sarah Lindenfeld Hall
“In 1928, Magda Mandel, a Hungarian Jew, donned a colorful striped sweater, rested her hand on her head and smiled for a personal family portrait. It’s a happy moment captured by a local painter that preceded tragedy. In 1944, Mandel’s family and other Jewish people who lived in Ungvar, Hungary—now Uzhhorod, Ukraine—were sent to Auschwitz. Mandel survived, but her parents died and her family’s possessions, including the painting, were lost.
Today that painting is part of the collection of a Ukrainian museum in her hometown, but Mandel’s name isn’t attached to it. It’s simply called A Portrait of a Young Artist, and attorney Irina Tarsis (Com ’01) is working to get it back to her family. … ”
