Looted! The Nazi Art Plunder of Jewish Families in France
Book talk by Peter Elliott (France)

December 10, 2025 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

| Free

In this book talk Peter Elliott speaks about the lives and art collections of four French Jewish families, whose art was looted and whose businesses were confiscated during the Nazi Occupation of France (1940-44). He speaks about their businesses and art collections, and the journeys of their paintings during wartime and beyond.

Image above: Detail of book cover

If you are interested but can’t attend the event, please register anyways and you will receive the link to the recording.
Participating in the event enables you to ask questions and be part of the discussion following the talk.

Max Heilbronn and Raoul Mayer, 1926 © All rights reserved
’Degenerate art’ in the Salle des Martyrs, Musée du Jeu de Paume, Paris. Archives du Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangère- La Courneuve, 20160007 AC-7, p. 29

The four protagonist families all made an important cultural and economic contribution to France. The Bader/Heilbronn/Meyer family were founders of the French department store, Galeries Lafayette. Their entire art collections were looted by the German ERR (Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce) and processed in Paris; both Heilbronn and Meyer were significant members of the French wartime Resistance. Pierre Wertheimer, who founded Parfums Chanel, fled the occupier; a ‘friend’ offered to help save his paintings from plunder but betrayed him. Pierre and Denise Lévy of Troyes were founders of one of the largest textile businesses in France, and post-war they donated their art collection to the French nation. They managed to seek refuge in the unoccupied south and were fortunate to hide their art from the German occupier. Georges Lévy (Lurcy), an aviation industrialist and banker, made his fortune in France and also invested heavily in art. He sought refuge in the US during the occupation, successfully smuggling the bulk of his art out of France to the US via Portugal. After his death Lurcy’s art collection was sold as part of what was termed the ‘Greatest Auction’; to this day the proceeds fund continuing educational exchange between France and US. Each story of imagination, resilience and determination shows a different facet of the Jewish French art collector experience during the years of German Nazi occupation.

André Derain, Portrait of Denise and Claire Lévy, 1949. Troyes, musée d’Art moderne, collections nationales Pierre et Denise Lévy, donation 1976, MNPL 91

Book cover

Peter Elliott was a career lawyer, mostly in England, but at an early stage became immersed in Francophone culture. He now lives with his wife in the Languedoc region of France. His lifelong interest in history has drawn him to biography. Since 2012 he has published five biographical books, two of which are art books and combine his love of history and art. His interests and his life in France have led directly to this French history.

This event is part of the online series “Flight or Fight. stories of artists under repression.”

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The Fritz Ascher Society is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible.

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