Monuments Men Misses

Aber sie wissen was sie wollen; keeping their artworks undercover;

The discovery of more unrecorded treasures, including paintings by Impressionist masters Monet, Renoir and Manet, was likely to add fuel to the firestorm of criticism over Germany's record in dealing with potentially looted art.

Representatives of Cornelius Gurlitt, whose vast collection was seized in 2012 by Munich prosecutors, revealed that he had dozens more works stashed outside the country in a second home in Salzburg, Austria.

Several families of Holocaust victims have laid claims to some of the 1,400 works seized in Munich as part of a tax investigation. Among them are relatives of Anne Sinclair, the ex-wife of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who are claiming a Matisse portrait that experts say could fetch up to $20 million at auction.

Masterpieces hidden from view for over six decades?  Well, it isn't only private collectors;

Culture Minister Monika Grütters, an art historian and parliamentarian, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the Gurlitt case had revealed weaknesses in Germany's restitution system.

The various institutions [museums] that share responsibility for art restitution had been "a bit shy in their public relations activities," she said, speaking from her office in Angela Merkel's chancellery, overlooking Berlin's government district.

"These are delicate matters to articulate," she said. Many German museums had underestimated "the emotional components" of the debate, she said. "It's a matter of earning back trust." 

And coming out of their shells?