The following films were shown over the course of the exhibition in the Jewish Museum Berlin

Film poster for "The Rape of Europa"
© Courtesy of Agon Arts & Entertainment, LLC

"The Rape of Europa"

Documentary, USA 2006
directed by Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen, Nicole Newnham
Langue: English, French, Italian, German, Polish and Russian with English subtitles
Running time: 117 mins

The Rape of Europa is a feature documentary film that tells the story of the systematic theft, deliberated deconstruction, and miraculous survival of Europe's art treasures in the Third Reich and Second World War. Today, more than sixty years later, the legacy of this tragic history continues to play out as families of looted collectors recover major works of art, conservators repair battle damage, and nations fight over the fate of ill-gotten spoils of war.

The documentary celebrates its European Premiere at the Jewish Museum Berlin. An event accompanying the Special Exhibition "Looting and Restitution".

"The Train"

Feature film, USA/France/Italy 1964, black and white, NC-17
directed by John Frankenheimer
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau
Shown in German
Running time: 133 mins

In the summer of 1944, just before the Allied Forces reach occupied Paris, Oberst von Waldheim gives orders for stolen pictures from the "Jeu de Paume" museum to be transported to Germany. Mademoiselle Villard, the curator of the Paris museum, informs the resistance, asking them for help. Paul Laibach, a French railway official, employs every means to stop the train.

from top to bottom:
"Jew with a fur cap" from Adolphe Schloss' collection
© Les Productions Bagheera
"Making a Killing", 1998, directed by Anne Webber
© The National Center for Jewish Film

"The Jew with a Fur Cap/Le Juif au bonnet de fourrure"

Documentary, France/Belgium 2000
directed by Marc van Dessel
In French and English with English subtitles
Running time: 55 mins

The film documents the worldwide search for the Rembrandt painting "Jew with a fur cap" from Adolphe Schloss' collection. The paintings from the Schloss collection were confiscated by the Nazis in France. After the war, the collection was plundered in Germany and the paintings disappeared. Single pictures resurfaced, whose discoveries brought new leads.

"Making a Killing"

Documentary, UK 1998
directed by Anne Webber
In English
Running time: 52 mins

Directed by Anne Webber, chair of the European Commission on Looted Art, this documentary follows the Gutmann family's 50-year quest to recover their missing art collection. The story culminates in the discovery of a stolen painting by Edgar Degas and the controversial legal battle to reclaim it.

"Monsieur Klein"

Feature film, France/Italy 1976
directed by Joseph Losey
Starring: Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau
In German
Running time: 120 mins

In German-occupied France of 1942, the Parisian antiques dealer Robert Klein has for the most part come to terms with Nazism. He benefits from others' affliction by buying valuable works of art from Jews desperate to leave the country at bargain prices. That is until he discovers the existence of another Robert Klein, a Jew, and becomes the focus of close attention from the authorities. His search for the other Robert Klein increasingly becomes a quest for his own identity and culminates in his taking on the identity of his namesake.

"Deutschland gegen Deutsch" [Germany against Deutsch], 2004, directed by Michael Juncker
© Kick Film GmbH

"Deutschland gegen Deutsch" [Germany against Deutsch]

Documentary, Germany 2005
directed by Michael Juncker
In German
Running time: 88 mins

In the 1950s, the German lawyer Hans Deutsch represented numerous art collectors who had been robbed by Nazi organizations, fighting for compensation and restitution. He was arrested for fraud in November 1964 and ten-year case ensued, culminating in the lawyer's acquittal. However, his reputation had been ruined. Following the fall of the wall, it was revealed that Deutsch had been the victim of a large-scale intrigue by former National Socialist German Workers' Party members.

Willy Maertens and Ida Ehre, in: "In jenen Tagen" [In those days], 1947, directed by Helmut Käutner
© F.-W.-Murnau-Stiftung

"In jenen Tagen" [In those days]

Feature film, Germany 1947
directed by Helmut Käutner
Starring: Erich Schellow, Gert Schaefer, Winnie Markus
In German
Running time: 111 mins

An old car wreck in the ruins of Berlin after the Second World War tells the turbulent stories of its owners during the Nazi era. In seven parts, the racial and political persecution suffered by these people at the hands of the Nazi regime is told.

Jacques Goudstikker, aus: »Goudstikker. A Drifting Inheritance«, 2006, Regie: Eric Velthuis
©Holland Harbour Productions BV

"Goudstikker. A Drifting Inheritance"

Documentary, Netherlands 2006
directed by Eric Velthuis
In Dutch, English and German with English subtitles
Running time: 50 mins

The movie tells the story of a long drawn-out conflict between art dealer Jacques Goudstikker heirs and the Dutch government. From 1946, his widow Desi tried to reclaim the works of art from the Dutch state. 46 years after Desi's assignation, her daughter-in-law Marei von Saher challenged the state once again.

"Bildersturm: Der Kunstraub der Nazis" [Bildersturm: Nazi art theft]

Documentary, Germany 2003
directed by Joachim Görgen
In German
Running time: 60 mins

This documentary film follows the trail of missing works of art, presents the perpetrators and those who have benefitted but also lets victims and inheritors have their say. The dispute between the heirs of Jewish art collector Ismar Littman and the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg will be looked at in detail.

"Stealing Klimt"

Documentary, UK 2007
directed by Jane Chablani
In German and English with German subtitles
Running time: 88 mins

"Stealing Klimt" documents the struggle of ninety-year-old heiress Maria Altmann for five paintings by Gustav Klimt, which the Nazis had stolen from her family and which, until 2006, were in the possession of the Austrian Gallery. Among them was one of the world's most expensive paintings, "Adele Bloch-Bauer I" (1907).