Oskar Federer (born May 4, 1884, in Jičín – died July 21 1968 in Canada) was a Jewish industrialist living in Czechoslovakia.[1] Forced to flee by the Nazis, his property and art collection were plundered first by Nazis[2] and later by the communist regime in Czechoslovia.[3]

Businessman

In the journal Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente, Federer was described as "one of the most important and exciting personalities of the Czechoslovak economy in the interwar period".[1]

Federer worked with the Viennese Rothschilds for over thirty years, and was the general director of the Vitkovice Mining and Ironworks Union, one of the largest industrial firms in the country.[1]

Art collector

Federer's art collection included works by Lovis Corinth,[4] Claude Monet,[5] and Paul Gauguin.[6]

Nazi persecution

Persecuted by the Nazis because of his Jewish heritage, he emigrated to Canada. Most of his property, including most of his art collection was confiscated by the Nazis.[7] After the war, the paintings came into the possession of the Czechoslovak state.[8]

Legacy

The Canadian heirs of Oskar Federer filed restitution claims against several Czech galleries, obtaining the restitution of twenty paintings that belonged to Oskar Federer before the Second World War. Works included those by Edvard Munch, Oskar Kokoschka, Otakar Nejedlý and Antonín Slavíček. Oscar Federer's grandson demanded the return of the paintings in the early 1990s.[8][9]

However, in 2009 the Czech "Federer collection" was auctioned at Sotheby's.[10]

In 2003, historian Magda Veselská published a biography of Oskar Federer entitled Oskar Federer - businessman and art collector (Oskar Federer - Unternehmer und Kunstsammler) [1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Veselská, Magda (2003). "Oskar Federer - Unternehmer und Kunstsammler". Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente (in German) (10): 241–274.
  2. ↑ "Oskar Federer". encyklopedie.ostrava.cz. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  3. ↑ Congress, World Jewish. "Canadian family wins Czech court case over restitution of art collection". World Jewish Congress. Retrieved 2022-07-01. A Canadian family has won a legal battle in its attempt to reclaim a European art collection assembled by their Jewish grandfather before the Second World War and later confiscated by the Nazis and then the Communists. A panel of three judges of a Czech appeals court on Wednesday upheld a lower-court ruling which granted possession of 21 art works to the Toronto banking executive Andrew Federer and his family
  4. ↑ "Ketterer Kunst, Kunstauktionen, Buchauktionen München, Hamburg & Berlin". www.kettererkunst.de. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
  5. ↑ "Claude Monet".
  6. ↑ "Paul Gauguin". Christies.
  7. ↑ "News: The Prague Post Online". remember.org. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  8. 1 2 "Restitution d'une collection de tableaux aux héritiers de l'industriel Oscar Federer". Radio Prague International (in French). 2008-12-15. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
  9. ↑ "Czech Supreme Court confirms Jewish claim for looted art". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
  10. ↑ IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART DAY SALE. OSKAR FEDERER COLLECTION. [LOISEAU. MUNCH. SPILLAERT. RODIN. ANQUETIN. CROSS. DE VLAMINCK. LHOTE. VAN DONGEN. BONNARD. SCHIELE. LIEBERMANN. ENSOR. URY. REDON. BUGATTI. GIACOMETTI. MORANDI. MOORE. GABO..]. 04/02/2009. LONDON: SOTHEBYS. 2009.
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