Nazi's Daughter Returns Looted WWII Painting to Rightful Heir

A looted masterpiece is coming home, thanks to some sharp-eyed journalists and decades of determined detective work.

Patricia Kadgien, daughter of Nazi official Friedrich Kadgien, agreed last Friday to return a stolen 18th-century portrait that had been missing since World War II. The painting, worth around $290,000, will go to Marei von Saher, the sole heir of Amsterdam art dealer Jacques Goudstikker.

The painting's rediscovery reads like a thriller. In August 2024, journalists from a Dutch newspaper were researching Friedrich Kadgien when they spotted something familiar in online photos of his daughter's Argentine home, which was listed for sale. There, hanging casually above the sofa, was a portrait from the Goudstikker collection.

Friedrich Kadgien served as financial adviser to Hermann Göring, one of Hitler's top officials. He fled to Argentina after the war and died there in 1978, never facing charges for his crimes.

When police raided the house, the painting had vanished, replaced by a tapestry of horses. Patricia Kadgien and her husband had hidden it. They were placed under house arrest and handed over the artwork a week later.

The original owner's story makes the return even more poignant. Jacques Goudstikker died in May 1940, falling into a ship's hold while fleeing the German invasion of the Netherlands. Under duress, some 1,100 works from his collection were sold to Göring and other senior Nazis.

The Ripple Effect

Marei von Saher has spent decades tracking down her family's stolen artwork, piece by piece. The Dutch state returned 202 works to Goudstikker's heirs in 2006, but hundreds more remain scattered worldwide.

This recovery shows how modern technology can right historical wrongs. A simple estate agent's website photo, combined with dogged journalism and institutional memory, brought justice 85 years later.

Under the settlement, Kadgien and her husband each paid 2.4 million pesos (about $1,400) to a local mother and child hospital. They avoid trial for concealing the stolen work.

Von Saher has agreed to let the portrait go on display in Argentina before bringing it home. The painting, once catalogued as a work by Giuseppe Ghislandi, was recently identified as being by another Italian master, Giacomo Ceruti.

Every recovered painting represents not just returned property, but restored dignity and remembered history.