Plundered Art: the long hunt | TF1 | Reportages

They may be detectives, police or simple individuals. They have one thing in common: they hunt down stolen works of art. For a year, we accompanied an amateur detective as he chased down works plundered by the Nazis. In close cooperation with the “art cops” within the OCBC, the office for cultural object trafficking, we also followed some long-term investigations. The attic of a Parisian apartment block. This is where Patrick Neslias is pursuing a unique investigation into those who looted art. Today, Patrick is exploring attics that have remained untouched since the Second World War. “I have no idea what we’ll find… we’ll see… letters, some paintings, I hope…” In the attics, but also in the auction rooms, or even in museums: for 25 years this former banker has been trying to recover the impressive collection of his friends, the Nardus family. A total of 150 masterpieces looted by the Nazis in 1942. Among them they believe there is a Botticelli, a Velasquez, and two Rembrandts. “They estimate that 20% of the world’s art was shifted during this period. In Europe, 200,000 works of art were looted. It was a methodical, organised looting.” To right this injustice, but also out of friendship for the Nardus family, Patrick is making it a point of principle to find these paintings, and he never gives up. “There are lots of Jewish families that think that it’s over, that there’s nothing they can do, but that’s not true. We can still do a lot.” Up till now, Patrick has only recovered three paintings, but he has a serious lead that will take him to the Netherlands. In Nanterre, a team of specialist detectives is relentlessly hunting down art thieves. They work for the OCBC, the office for cultural object trafficking. Every year, 1300 items disappear in France. Colonel Gauffeny, head of the OCBC, lists their finest prizes. Gold pieces dating from 300AD as well as “Picasso drawings and counterfeit sculptures”. Thefts carried out by international gangs in museums and, increasingly, in unsecured locations such as libraries or churches. The latest target for thieves: 16th century marine charts with a value of several hundred thousand Euros stolen from reading rooms. “It’s hard to imagine they might steal that sort of thing, nor the value that it represents. Perhaps, in France, we don’t appreciate the full value of our heritage,” states the officer in charge of the case. The “art cops” are after a gang from Hungary.