About this item
The world was stunned when eighty-year old Cornelius Gurlitt became an international media superstar in November 2013 on the discovery of over 1,400 artworks in his 1,076 square-foot Munich apartment, valued at around $1.35 billion. Gurlitt became known as a man who never was - he didn't have a bank account, never paid tax, never received social security. He simply did not exist. He had been hard-wired into a life of shadows and secrecy by his own father long before he had inherited his art collection built on the spoliation of museums and Jews during Hitler's Third Reich. The ensuing media frenzy unleashed international calls for restitution, unsettled international relations, and rocked the art world. Ronald reveals in this stranger-than-fiction-tale how Hildebrand Gurlitt succeeded in looting in the name of the Third Reich, duping the Monuments Men and the Nazis alike.
About the Author
Born and raised in the United States, Susan Ronald is a British-American author and biographer. Now living in England for over twenty-five years, she is the author of nine history books ranging across the ages. Her latest book to be published (August 3, 2020 ) is entitled THE AMBASSADOR: JOSEPH P. KENNEDY AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES'S 1938-1940. She is also the author of CONDÉ NAST, A DANGEROUS WOMAN, HITLER'S ART THIEF, HERETIC QUEEN, SHAKESPEARE'S DAUGHTER (a novel) , THE PIRATE QUEEN, THE SANCY BLOOD DIAMOND, AND FRANCE: THE CROSSROADS OF EUROPE. She has also appeared as herself in documentaries and has produced films and has written screenplays.Susan is working on her tenth book (St. Martin's Press/Macmillan) entitled HITLER'S ARISTOCRATS about the powerful Nazis who charmed the elite in Britain and the United States.