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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 14 February 2008

Pick of the Indies

STEALING Klimt is a cleverly put together documentary which deals with an unpleasant topic in a carefully considered way.
It tells the story of Maria Altmann. Her family was robbed, and their possessions were left in a public place by the known culprits. Yet it took a mammoth court battle for her to see justice done.
Altmann’s family were major shareholders in a sugar factory in Austria, and owned five paintings by Gusav Klimt, worth well over £60m. But her family had to flee when the Nazi’s marched into Vienna in 1938 – leaving their paintings behind. They were seized and put in a Viennese gallery.
The documentary follows her fight to win them back, and underlines one of the hidden stories of the war: not only was the Holocaust the biggest mass murder in history, it was also the biggest case of organised crime.
Governments colluded with the Nazis to loot and steal – from personal possessions through to entire businesses. So much was stolen and so little returned. Stealing Klimt tells the story of one person’s fight for justice, and has an important message about facing up to the past and righting wrongs.
The film will be screened at the Swiss Cottage Odeon on February 27 at 8pm and a discussion featuring writer Martin Smith, historian Professor David Cesarani, Deputy Austrian Ambassador Elisabeth Koegler and Jewish German refugee specialist Dr Anthony Grenville.
DAN CARRIER

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