Removed from Vienna for safekeeping, the Gestapo transported them to a monastery in Gwiggen, near the Austrian-Swiss border to be cared for by the nuns until the end of the war. Allied forces, namely, French Foreign Legion troops, overran the monastery and emptied its repository in 1945. To the best of our knowledge, nothing from the collection hidden at Gwiggen has ever surfaced according to Hans Kluge, Maria s husband and art auction watcher. The French authorities have been less than forthcoming about sharing information about the military looting issue. Documents from the war, postwar claims forms, correspondence and legal files fill the cabinets in the midtown Toronto den the Kluge s use as their office.
Art books line every wall.
Of all the claims on looted art assets, the Pollack case is unusually well documented, with original insurance policy photographs and negatives depicting the artwork. Banking documents and files amassed by Maria during the postwar period when she was helplessly trying to exact restitution share the cabinet with masses of documents that have only recently been made available from Austrian Archives. A few pieces from the collections that comprised over 450 individual items were returned by Austrian museums. Maria was forced sell or barter most of these valuable pieces at rock-bottom prices to be able to live on during the difficult postwar years. One painting, Self Portrait by Hans Canon was restituted in 1946 with a surcharge added, ironically, for storage fees , an amount that exceeded Maria s ability to pay.