I recommend this film.
It is a marvelous very moving portrayal of a heinous Nazi act that was perpetuated by the Austrian nation decades after World War II, of a persistent elderly woman, and a lawyer who gave up his livelihood to do what is just, an inspirational lawyer.
The famed artist Gustav Klimt painted two portraits of a Jewish woman Adele Bloch-Bauer. The first was done in gold in 1907. It sold in 2006 for $135 million dollars. The second was painted in 1912 and was later sold for $88 million dollars. This film tells the tale of the first painting.
The Nazis stole the painting from Adele Bloch-Bauer’s family and it was appropriated by the Austrian government and placed in their museum. Unwilling to acknowledge that the painting was of a Jewish woman, they called the painting “The Woman in Gold.” When her niece tried to get the Austrian government to return the painting which belonged to her, they not only refused but lied and placed all kinds of stumbling blocks in front of her and her lawyer.
Her lawyer sued in court and the case reached the US Supreme Court. It was finally settled by arbitration in Austria in a decision that made many honest Austrians proud.
There are still hundreds of valuable paintings belonging to Jews that have not been returned.
