The artwork is among 20,000 pieces recovered by the FBI Art Crime Team.
A painting from Claude Monet that was previously stolen by Nazis was returned to a family this week after missing for more than 80 years.
At an FBI field office on Wednesday, agents unveiled the long-lost Monet pastel, hidden for over 80 years, and handed it back to Adalbert Parlagi’s granddaughters. Helen Lowe, one of the recipients, reflected on the moment, saying she believed her grandfather would be watching and “so, so proud” of the artwork’s return.
Monet’s 1865 “Bord de Mer”, a pastel depicting the rocky shores of Normandy, holds historical significance as the region where Allied forces launched the pivotal D-Day invasion in 1944. The artwork is among 20,000 pieces recovered by the FBI Art Crime Team, part of a vast trove of 600,000 artworks and millions of books and religious artifacts looted by the Nazis during World War II.
“The theft was not random or incidental, but an integral part of the Nazis’ plan to eliminate all vestiges of Jewish life in Germany and Europe, root and branch”, Stuart E.
