The daughter of a fugitive Nazi who took a painting stolen from a Jewish art dealer has been put under house arrest by police in Argentina.
Friedrich Kadgien, a key aide to monstrous Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering, fled to the country after the Second World War and died there in 1978.
Last month, a painting known to have been among the collection taken from Jacques Goudstikker went missing from the home of Kadgien’s daughter Patricia in the city of Mar del Plata, near Buenos Aires.
Ms Kadgien’s home was raided by police after the work was spotted in photos on a real estate listing, but when officers arrived it had been replaced with a tapestry depicting horses.
Now, according to local media, Ms Kadgien and her husband have been put under house arrest for 72 hours and at least three raids on other properties owned by the family were carried out yesterday.
Ms Kadgien and her husband have been accused of concealing a crime, La Nacion reported.
But the couple have put forward a claim to the provincial court that they own the painting, which was produced by Italian painter Fra Galgario in the 18th century.
They reportedly argued this was due to the time that has elapsed since the work was taken, and the Argentine statute of limitations on any claim by its original owner or his heirs.
Goudstikker’s daughter-in-law and only surviving heir, 81-year-old Marei von Saher, is pushing to have the painting returned to her family.
Ms Kadgien and her husband have proposed that Portrait of a Lady be placed in the custody of the Argentine courts until the issue of who legally owns it is determined.
Their house arrest was reportedly requested by prosecutor Carlos Martínez and signed by federal judge Santiago Inchausti.
The same judge approved the three further raids that took place on other properties owned by Ms Kadgien and her family.
There would be no time limits on possible charges due to the connection to the worst genocide in human history.
Friedrich Kadgien, who was described as a ‘snake of the lowest sort’ by American interrogators, funded the Third Reich’s war effort through the theft of art and diamonds from Jewish dealers in the Netherlands.
He fled to Switzerland in 1945 and then moved to Brazil and Argentina, where he became a successful businessman.
He was one of thousands of Nazis who found refuge in South America – in particular under the regime of Juan Peron in Argentina – after the war.
Among the most notorious were war criminals Adolf Eichmann – the chief architect of the Holocaust – and Auschwitz death camp doctor Josef Mengele.
Among Kadgien’s financial schemes was allegedly the sale of weapons to the Brazilian military junta.
Although officers did not find Portrait of a Lady in their search last week, they did seize mobile phones and two unregistered firearms as well as drawings, engravings and documents from the 1940s that could advance the investigation.
Jacques Goudstikker died in 1940 aged just 42 after falling into the hold of a ship and breaking his neck while fleeing the Nazis for England, where he was buried.
Portrait of a Lady is among at least 800 pieces owned by Goudstikker that were seized or bought under duress by the Nazis.
Investigators recovered more than 200 of the pieces in the early 2000s, but many – like Portrait of a Lady – remained missing and are included on the international and Dutch lists of lost art looted by the Nazis.
Before his own unsuccessful escape from Europe, Goudstikker helped fellow Jews flee the Nazis.
Details of Goudstikker’s art collection were kept in a little black book which he took with him on his fateful journey to Britain in May 1940, as the Netherlands fell under Nazi occupation.
The booklet was eventually discovered by his wife, Desi, and their only son, Edo, who made it safely to the United States.
Ms von Saher told Dutch outlet Algemeen Dagblad last week: ‘My search for the artworks owned by my father-in-law Jacques Goudstikker started at the end of the 90s, and I won’t give up.
‘My family aims to bring back every single artwork robbed from Jacques’s collection and restore his legacy.’
Ms Kadgien’s home was marketed for sale on the website of estate agent Robles Casas & Campos.
A Dutch journalist investigating the disappearance of Portrait of a Lady spotted the work in one of the images.
The property listing has now been removed.
Another looted artwork – by 17th century Dutch painter Abraham Mignon – was reportedly spotted in a photo that featured on the Facebook page of one of Kadgien’s daughters.