NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) – The United States returned eleven oil paintings from Heinrich Bürkel that were taken by a U.S. soldier from Pirmasens, Germany during a World War II-allied invasion in 1945, U.S. District Attorney Preet Bharara announced on Wednesday.

The paintings were returned at a repatriation ceremony at the Goethe-Institut in Manhattan. Most of the oil paintings were by Heinrich Bürkel, a local artist. The collection was part of the Pirmasens Museum in Germany. During World War II, all paintings were moved to an air raid shelter. After the war ended, the paintings were gone.

Beth Ann McFadden, the grand-niece of former Army sergeant Harry Gurski, inherited the collection and sought to find out its origins. McFadden tracked the paintings and discovered that were part of the Pirmasens municipal museum’s collection that went missing after the war.

Forty paintings were hidden in a storage Area under the local school building. Gursky, was stationed in Pirmasens after the allied invasion. Upon his return home, he arrived with the paintings that have been passed through generations.

McFadden contacted German authorities who contacted her with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials that were conducting an investigation on the 40 missing art pieces.

Finally, on February 2, 2010, McFadden surrendered the paintings to ICE agents. During the subsequent interview, McFadden said that she believed that his great-uncle or relatives may have given away some of the paintings.

Further investigation corroborated McFadden’s suspicions. Gursky’s wife had indeed given a family friend several of the Pirmasens paintings. ICE agents also discover that the family friend tried to sell some of the paintings at Sotheby’s Auction House and successfully sold three at a Pennsylvania auction house.

Three of the paintings by Bürkel, “Herd of Cattle,” “From the Countryside,” and an untitled painting, are valued in $50,000 each. Seven oil portraits of lesser-known artists are valued at $4,000 each. An Alois Broch painting is estimated to be worth around $10,000.

“Without the integrity and good will of Beth Ann McFadden, the repatriation of these paintings to the Pirmasens Museum could not have taken place. Each work of art returned symbolizes an act of justice,” Bharara said.

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