Hildebrand Gurlitt, the man who assembled the astounding art collection recently discovered in a Munich apartment, was more deeply involved in the trade of looted artworks than had been previously assumed. He also profited from Nazi injustices after the war.

“Now, almost 70 years later, what the Monuments Men discovered at Aschbach Castle in May 1945 has shown a spotlight on Germany’s past once again. Customs officials found an enormous treasure trove of artworks from the Third Reich in an apartment in Munich’s Schwabing district. It includes 380 pictures that the Nazis had dubbed “degenerate art” in 1937 and removed from museums. The Schwabing find also included 590 other artworks that the Nazi regime and its henchmen may have stolen from Jewish owners. The owner of the apartment is Gurlitt’s son Cornelius, the current heir of the collection, who was 12 and living in Aschbach at the end of the war.”