I am once again hosting The Coffee Pot Book Club as they take another amazing book on tour. It is with the greatest of pleasure of welcoming Janet Lee Berg onto The Whispering Bookworm.
Weaving in tragic true events from her own family history, Berg offers a sensitive story of history, romance, and humor along with detail from the extensive research of Lynn H. Nicholas, the world’s leading expert on art pilfered during WWII. Over 80 years later, the real family still awaits justice and the return of artwork that continues to hang on museum walls, without noting their tragic history…
They knew the timeline of events by heart:
1938—Hitler targets their art collection.
1940 May 10—Germany invades Holland. Five days later, Holland surrenders.
1940 June–August—Art dealer brothers are forced to sell large quantities of art (500 paintings alone on August 2) for a fraction of their value.
1940 September—Hermann Goering visits the family home with a gun in his pocket.
1941 December—Nazis begin deportation trains.
1941 February—Art firm goes into liquidation.
1942 February—Arrangements are made for travel to Switzerland to obtain masterpieces for the Führermuseum.
1942 June—One quarter of family assets go to the looting bank.
1942 September—Arrangements are made for the big trade; exchange of desired Rembrandt for twenty-five Jewish lives.
1943 October until end of 1943—Negotiations with high level SS officials regarding the fate of the rest of family members left behind in the Netherlands, and who were arrested, taken to Westerbork concentration camps.
1944–1945—Sixty-five family members die in the camps or in a cattle car that drifted between enemy lines, shortly before liberation.
Post-War—Two brothers commit suicide.
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| The Katz brothers, whose real story inspired “Restitution |
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| he Katz brothers actual art gallery. |
Sylvie was called to the stand. Dressed in her conservative navy suit, she made her way to the front of the room. She appeared calm but tired from another sleepless night. She glanced at her sister Gretta, who, with Roger, accompanied her to court every day. They both offered her an encouraging nod and smile...
De Groot: Ms. Rosenberg, we have a few questions for you concerning your father’s business dealings with the Nazis.
Adelstein: Objection, Your Honor. Even in this kind of proceeding, the characterization as business dealings is unfair and has not been established.
De Groot: My Lord, I would like to assure the court and my learned colleagues on the other side that I will refrain from using the term going forward to allay Mr. Adelstein’s concerns, but would note that while Mr. Adelstein is unfamiliar with Dutch proceedings, his learned partner Mr. Van der Berg is highly qualified and regarded and will undoubtedly ensure that their clients are treated with the utmost fairness throughout these proceedings.
Judge: Mr. Adelstein, I will remind you again, we are in a Dutch courtroom, not an American one, and my colleagues and I are not a jury and perfectly capable of ignoring the characterization if necessary. Overruled!
De Groot: Were you aware that your father was paid for many of these transactions and they were not stolen outright as you stated in your claim?
Sylvie: I cannot say I am aware of the figures or the dates of these transactions. It could have been anytime between the summer of 1940 up until our escape. But I can say for sure that my father sold them for a fraction of their value.
De Groot: And why is it you are so sure of that?
Sylvie: I can hear exceptionally well in my one ear. And I’ve been told I have selective hearing.
Snickers were heard.
De Groot: Were you aware that your father left the country specifically to make acquisitions to further these transactions?
Sylvie: Yes, I was aware he went on many business trips.
De Groot: Does the name Alois Miedl mean anything to you?
Sylvie: Miedl means nothing to me! He used my father. He was a messenger who worked directly under the Reichsmarschall. He was a Nazi banker and an art dealer.
De Groot: Isn’t it true that he and your father were on friendly terms?
Sylvie: Haven’t you ever heard the expression, “Keep your enemies close?” Friendly, you ask? Miedl didn’t threaten my father’s life with a gun. But he warned him that he was obliged to sell to the Germans whatever they wanted and that if things, meaning sales, did not go well, that it would end badly for the Rosenbergs.
De Groot: Your father and Miedl then worked together on these sales? Fair to say that the business your father conducted with Miedl was voluntary.
Sylvie: Please do not speak to me about voluntary sales.
De Groot: These transactions were voluntary, were they not?
Sylvie: There was nothing voluntary about our existence! It wasn’t just Miedl. We also had to put together a collection for Dr. Hans Posse, the art director of the Führermuseum in Linz. I remember we had to give a painting for Hitler’s April birthday.
De Groot: The paintings in question—were any of them returned to you? To your family, after the war?
Sylvie: Only a couple were returned to us that I know of out of the nearly 150 paintings. How very generous of the Dutch, wouldn’t you say? The Dutch government threw us a bone.
There was an outburst in the courtroom.
Sylvie: My father and his brother were very smart businessmen and were forced to sell 500 paintings in one sitting in the summer of 1940. They never would have done that under normal circumstances. They weren’t idiots!
Adelstein, who knew Sylvie had no filter, shot a warning look at her.
De Groot: Did you ever witness your father threatened by physical harm?
Sylvie: Well, I—
De Groot: Yes or no?
Sylvie: Well, no.
De Groot: In fact, isn’t it so that the Rosenberg family was actually protected by the Third Reich?
Sylvie: Our protection was only temporary. We never knew when the ball would drop, so to speak.
De Groot: As far as you know, was any member of your family threatened by physical harm?
Sylvie: Yes. My grandmother was dragged off the street and taken to Westerbork Camp where she eventually died of dysentery. My mother—(she paused to look at Gretta for permission) and my sister were forced to have sex with the Gestapo officers and even the Dutch police.
Gasps were heard in the courtroom.
De Groot: Forced?
Sylvie: I’m not the only one with hearing problems? That is what I said—forced!
The presiding judge placed his hand on the gavel when Sylvie raised her voice, but he did not use it.
De Groot: That will be all for now, Your Honor.
Van der Berg walked to the front of the room and gave Sylvie a reassuring look.
Van der Berg: You said you were twaalf or dertien years old when the transactions occurred. Can you describe to us to the best of your recollection what transpired in your home during those terrible years, specifically, do you remember a visit by Hermann Goering in the spring of 1941?
Sylvie glanced at Roger sitting next to Gretta, who gave her a nod of encouragement. She looked back at Van der Berg with a distant look before answering.
Sylvie: I was an inquisitive child and listened in on conversations in my home at that time because I wanted to know what was going on.
Van der Berg: And what did you discover?
Sylvie: One day we saw a Mercedes pull up. Men in military uniforms got out and escorted an officer into our home. My mother ushered us children into the kitchen and instructed us to be silent. I snuck into the butler’s pantry and then stood outside the dining room door, listening and peeking whenever I could. There he was, fat Hermann Goering.
Again, snickers were heard in the courtroom
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Janet Lee Berg
Janet Lee Berg is a native New Yorker with a residence in Charleston, SC. She is also author of several other works of fiction and children’s books and has had her work featured in the local, regional, and national press. A journalist in the Hamptons, Janet Lee Berg has interviewed numerous celebrities and pursued an MFA in Creative Writing, under the direction of published professors including Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes.
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