An epic legal affair involving artworks looted by the Nazi regime drew to a close on Wednesday in Lower Manhattan, where the works were handed over to the descendants of a Jewish collector who was murdered during the Holocaust.

The artworks, by the renowned Austrian artist Egon Schiele, were forcibly taken from Fritz Grünbaum, a Jewish cabaret performer who was killed in 1941 at Dachau concentration camp, according to descendants of the artist as well as a pivotal court ruling.

The pieces ended up, over the span of many decades, at various museums, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Morgan Library, both in New York, eventually becoming the subject of a series of federal and state court cases.

“I don’t think it’s an overstatement. Today is historic and groundbreaking,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, at whose office the handover ceremony took place and which helped orchestrate the return. “We are returning these beautiful works, these drawings, to their rightful home. To their family.”

You can read more in an article by Arun Venugopal published in the gothamist web site at: https://gothamist.com/news/7-artworks-seized-by-nazis-returned-to-descendants-in-ny.