Professor Jonathan Petropoulos, John V. Croul Professor of European History

Bruno Lohse (1911–2007) was one of the most notorious art plunderers in history. He supervised the systematic theft and distribution of over 30,000 artworks, largely from French Jews, and assisted in amassing an enormous private art collection. By the 1950s, Lohse was officially denazified but back in the art dealing world, offering masterpieces of dubious origin to American museums. After his death, dozens of paintings by Renoir, Monet, and Pissarro, among others, were found in his Zurich bank vault and personal residence. Join Professor Petropoulos as he discusses how he spent nearly a decade interviewing Lohse and continues to serve as an expert witness for Holocaust restitution cases.