The art of restitution

At the time, she said, "We are thrilled to have the painting returned to us... it has also helped to ensure that my father's significant collection continues to be recognized and given the attention it deserves."

Ruth Haller, who escaped from Germany and moved to Palestine just before the war, filed a claim with the New York State Banking Department in the spring of 1998 after discovering that La Procession had been put up for auction in Germany. Through the efforts of the department's Holocaust Claims Processing Office (HCPO) the painting was eventually returned to Haller a year later.

Alfred Sisley, 'Banks of the Long - Autumn Efect,' 1881.
Photo: Israel Museum
The entire Littmann collection, some valuable, some just treasures to the family, was auctioned off at a forced sale at the Max Perl auction house in Berlin in 1934; later that year Littmann committed suicide.

The painting La Procession hangs nondescriptly in the Tel Aviv apartment of Ruth and Chaim Haller. Completed in 1927 by Lucien Adrion, the piece of art was one of approximately 1,000 works that Dr. Ismar Littmann, a German Jew and Ruth Haller's father, had collected over the years.