'What filth!' - Nazis and modern art

Images such as "Light Tower" (1913) by expressionist artist Paul Adolf Seehaus overwhelmed the artistic senses of the National Socialist. They considered the modern works "decadent" and "alien to art." The same went for musicians: Jazz, swing and even contemporary composers like Paul Hindemith were equally persecuted. A complete ban on modern art was enacted in 1936.

With its reflections and subtle plays of light, Anne Ratowski's "Kitchen Still Life with Fish" almost looks like an Old Master painting. It wasn't Ratowski's painterly technique that the National Socialists objected to but the fact that she was Jewish and affiliated with a left-wing group of artists. She left Germany and fell into obscurity - a bitter triumph for the Nazis.

Before the works disappeared, they were shown publicly under the motto: "Tortured canvas, spiritual decay, insane incompetents." The derogatory statement was written on the flyer accompanying the traveling exhibition, "Degenerate Art." The show opened on July 19, 1937 in Munich and displayed 650 confiscated works. Here, Hitler and propaganda minister Goebbels delight at the "graffiti."

The two paintings on the left by Emil Nolde show how subjective the term "degenerate" became. Goebbels was in fact a proponent of the artist's work: Nolde was anti-Semitic, an early National Socialist and a persecutor of Jewish artists. But his work didn't suit Hitler and other officials. Nolde protested to Goebbels that he had "fought openly against the alienation of German art" - to no avail.

After the big "success" at the exhibition, the "degenerate art" wasn't exactly destroyed. Nazi officials knew that they could make a lot of money with the works and allowed many of them to be sold by German art dealers to foreign buyers. Art previously owned by private Jewish owners, however, was hidden. These hiding places, like here in Franconia, were discovered by the Allies after the war.

Throughout Germany, soldiers found secret stashes of looted art spanning centuries - and of incalculable value. After the war, many of the works wandered overseas and through the hands of various gallery owners, collectors and investors. It's very difficult to determine where many of the works originated from. Every time a work by an Old Master resurfaces, it causes an uproar in the art world.

Exhibitions today continue to recall the ostracized works of art. Rudolf Belling's "Kopf in Messing" (1925), or "Head in Brass," is one part of an exhibit in the German city of Güstrow that runs through November 24. It includes 600 works of art from the collection of Bernhard A. Böhmers, an art dealer allowed by the Nazis to sell "degenerate art" abroad.

This painting by the German Max Beckmann ("Kreuzabnahme," 1917) currently hangs in Frankfurt's Städel Museum. In 1919, the museum's director acquired the image - its first from Beckmann. In 1937, it was branded "degenerate" by the Nazis and later sold to the US. In 2011, it returned to Frankfurt for an exhibition entitled "Beckmann & Amerika."

Another painting by Max Beckmann, "Löwenbändiger" ("Lion Tamer") surfaced two years ago when Cornelius Gurlitt sold the piece with the help of a Cologne auction house. It's very likely that the image stems from the collection of Jewish art dealer Alfred Flechtheim, who was forced to leave his entire collection when he fled Germany. His family has come forward to claim the work.

A many cases, those claiming to be the rightful heirs of discovered artworks fight for years to have them returned. But each case is unique and does not set precedence for the others. With Pablo Picasso's "Madame Soler," the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy family has been challenging the Bavarian state in court for years. A settlement is nowhere in sight.

With the recent treasure trove of art found in Munich, researchers, lawyers and art history experts have a long way to go before they can clarify which pieces of art were looted and which were obtained legally. It appears that many were obtained by Hildebrand Gurlitt legally. In the meantime, art fans hope that the collection will be made public for all to see.