The Tel Aviv Museum of Art has canceled a planned event with Christie’s auction house following the sale of £150 million (around $192 million) worth of jewelry linked to a family whose wealth was partially derived from Nazi-looted Jewish businesses, according to a report by Jewish News.
The December conference, intended to address Holocaust restitution, faced backlash from survivors over the auctioning of gems belonging to Austrian heiress Heidi Horten, who passed away last year. Heidi was the widow of Helmut Horten, a member of the Nazi party and owner of a department store chain who acquired Jewish-owned businesses as their owners fled the country. He was 32 years her senior and died in 1987.
David Schaecter, 94, president of the Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA, wrote to Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, who also chairs the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, urging him to cancel the event with Christie’s. Schaecter accused the auction house of engaging in a “disgraceful pattern of whitewashing Holocaust profiteers.”
The jewelry, which set a record by fetching $202 million, included unique pieces from renowned brands such as Cartier, Harry Winston, Boivin, and Van Cleef & Arpels. The collection also featured pearls, jade, and Bulgari creations from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Notably, the jewelry box even contained Marie Antoinette’s pearl, which Horten acquired in 2018 for $36 million.
The Tel Aviv Art Museum, acknowledging public sentiment and criticism, announced in a statement that it would no longer host the ‘Reflecting on Restitution’ conference in collaboration with Christie’s. The conference aimed to bring together Holocaust survivors’ families, historians, and legal experts.
