FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: State Rep. Paul Wesselhöft
Capitol: (405) 557-7343
Wesselhöft to Protest Again
OKLAHOMA CITY – State Rep. Paul Wesselhöft announced today that he will
be protesting at the Warren Theater in Moore during the Friday, April
10th afternoon showing of the movie Woman in Gold to raise more
awareness of a Nazi stolen Jewish painting being displayed at the Fred
Jones, Jr. Museum of Art in Norman.
Woman in Gold is a 2015 movie portraying the true story of Maria Altmann, played by Helen Mirren, “an octogenarian Jewish refugee who takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family,” which was stolen by Nazis in Vienna before the start of World War II.
Wesselhöft has been protesting and encouraging the University of Oklahoma to turn over the painting they hold, an 1886 Camille Pissarro oil painting titled Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep, to Leone Meyer, a Jewish woman from Paris, whose family is the rightful owner, according to Wesselhöft.
Wesselhöft also protested the same cause during the film, Monuments Men before Moore police threatened him with an arrest.
Wesselhöft says, “President Boren is a good and decent man; I consider him my friend. Unfortunately, he is adhering to the advice of his attorneys.”
Randy Schoenberg, the American attorney who represented Altmann in the U.S. Supreme Court, said more effort needs to be made to return Nazi-looted art to its rightful owners.
“I have been repeatedly asked whether there are still other paintings yet to be returned to their rightful owners,” said Schoenberg. “The answer is, unfortunately, yes.”
“Unfortunately for Oklahomans, one of those Nazi stolen paintings is hanging in the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum at the University of Oklahoma,” said Wesselhöft, R-Moore.
“Ms. Meyer is 75 years old, and is legally and emotionally fighting to recover her father’s painting. She wants the painting returned to her family while she is able to enjoy it.
“Please contact University of Oklahoma President David Boren, and plead with him to make the right and moral decision not to litigate this for many years. He needs to make our state proud by giving this painting back to the Meyer family before Ms. Meyer dies.“
CONTACT:
President David Boren
University of Oklahoma
660 Parrington Oval, Norman, OK 73019
(405) 325-3916
Email: dboren@ou.edu
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Woman in Gold is a 2015 movie portraying the true story of Maria Altmann, played by Helen Mirren, “an octogenarian Jewish refugee who takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family,” which was stolen by Nazis in Vienna before the start of World War II.
Wesselhöft has been protesting and encouraging the University of Oklahoma to turn over the painting they hold, an 1886 Camille Pissarro oil painting titled Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep, to Leone Meyer, a Jewish woman from Paris, whose family is the rightful owner, according to Wesselhöft.
Wesselhöft also protested the same cause during the film, Monuments Men before Moore police threatened him with an arrest.
Wesselhöft says, “President Boren is a good and decent man; I consider him my friend. Unfortunately, he is adhering to the advice of his attorneys.”
Randy Schoenberg, the American attorney who represented Altmann in the U.S. Supreme Court, said more effort needs to be made to return Nazi-looted art to its rightful owners.
“I have been repeatedly asked whether there are still other paintings yet to be returned to their rightful owners,” said Schoenberg. “The answer is, unfortunately, yes.”
“Unfortunately for Oklahomans, one of those Nazi stolen paintings is hanging in the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum at the University of Oklahoma,” said Wesselhöft, R-Moore.
“Ms. Meyer is 75 years old, and is legally and emotionally fighting to recover her father’s painting. She wants the painting returned to her family while she is able to enjoy it.
“Please contact University of Oklahoma President David Boren, and plead with him to make the right and moral decision not to litigate this for many years. He needs to make our state proud by giving this painting back to the Meyer family before Ms. Meyer dies.“
CONTACT:
President David Boren
University of Oklahoma
660 Parrington Oval, Norman, OK 73019
(405) 325-3916
Email: dboren@ou.edu
(Share this with your friends!)
