Painting Taken From Jewish Family During Nazi Era Returned After Decades

Washington, D.C., United States — September 26, 2026

A painting that belonged to Sofie Heilbronner, a Jewish woman who fled Nazi Germany in 1938, has been returned to her descendants more than eight decades after it was taken from her family.

A Family Lost Its Home and Its Art

Heilbronner was the widow of Munich banker Hugo Heilbronner. As persecution of Jewish people intensified in Germany, she left the country for the United States in 1938 with her adult sons.

Among the belongings she attempted to send abroad was Music (Arcadian Scene), an oil painting created by German artist Albert Lang in 1892.

German authorities seized Heilbronner’s possessions during the Nazi period. The painting was later auctioned and eventually entered the holdings of the Bavarian State Painting Collections.

Decades Without an Answer

For decades after the Second World War, the whereabouts and ownership history of the painting remained unclear.

In 2015, the Bavarian State Painting Collections listed the work in the Lost Art Database because its provenance raised concerns that it could have been taken as a result of Nazi persecution.

A more detailed provenance investigation began in 2020. Researchers examined historical records and discovered documents from galleries in Munich that helped establish Heilbronner as the painting’s former rightful owner.

Eight Years of Effort

Descendants of Heilbronner contacted New York State’s Holocaust Claims Processing Office in 2018 for help recovering artworks lost by the family.

The office later contacted the Bavarian State Painting Collections in 2021. The investigation eventually confirmed the connection between the painting held by the museum and the artwork that had belonged to Heilbronner.

Bavarian authorities decided in 2024 that the painting should be returned to Heilbronner’s heirs.

Returned to the Family

The restitution was formally marked at a ceremony at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., on September 22, 2026. Descendants of Heilbronner attended the ceremony as the painting was returned to the family.

Paul Laporte, Heilbronner’s great-grandson, said the painting was more than an artwork to the family. It had once hung in their home in Munich and represented a tangible connection to the family’s life before persecution and exile.

The Bavarian State Painting Collections said the restitution followed extensive provenance research and cooperation between German institutions, the family and the New York State Holocaust Claims Processing Office.

A Connection Across Generations

The return of Music (Arcadian Scene) does not restore the home or possessions that the Heilbronner family lost during the Nazi era. But after decades in public collections and years of research by her descendants, the painting is once again connected to the family from which it was taken.

The case also demonstrates how historical records, museum research and family investigations can help identify artworks that were displaced during the Nazi period and return them to their rightful heirs.

Sources

• Bavarian State Painting Collections — Restitution of Albert Lang’s Music (Arcadian Scene) to the heirs of Sofie Heilbronner.
• The Washington Post — “A woman fleeing the Nazis left behind a painting. Her family just got it back.”
• ArtDependence — “Nazi-Looted Painting Returned to US Heirs.”
• New York State Holocaust Claims Processing Office — Information on the restitution claim.