A German woman, Anni Ettle, who denounced many Jews to the Gestapo in order to confiscate their art collections has been arrested and will be tried by a German denazification court, it was reported here today. She will probably also be tried by a war crimes court for contributing toward the murder of the Jewish collectors.
The woman and her husband obtained a concession from the Gestapo to confiscate paintings, sculpture and other works of art owned by Frankfurt Jews, and as early as 1933 they drew up a list of the collections they wished to acquire. It is estimated that the Ettles amassed about $2,000,000 worth of art pieces. In addition some 300 paintings are known to be missing from the collections confiscated by them.
Originally the husband received a seven-year sentence and the wife five years for concealment of assets. When investigators checked her “private” collection, they found that many paintings were stolen and hidden in out of the way caches. In an attempt to avoid prosecution she bribed several members of a military government staff with valuable paintings.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
