Artworks of Nazi arms supplier's heir damaged
A woman damaged two works of art at the opening of a Berlin exhibition of a collection owned by the billionaire heir of a Nazi-era arms supplier.
A spokeswoman for Berlin’s Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation said the attack came last night, the first day Friedrich Christian Flick’s collection was put on public view.
A 35-year-old woman was arrested.
The woman, who had been at a panel discussion before the attack, slammed herself against the artworks, saying “Flick, I forgive you,” police said
Controversy has surrounded the exhibition since Berlin authorities said it would be put on show, with critics questioning whether it was appropriate to display works from Flick’s collection of 2,500 contemporary pieces.
Critics have accused the younger Flick of trying to whitewash his family history by putting his art collection on display, while the Berlin government has said that the art speaks for itself, separate from the Flick family name.
Flick’s grandfather, Friedrich Flick, lost his fortune after the war when he was sentenced to seven years in prison for crimes that included the use of slave labour in his arms factories and the confiscation of Jewish property.
Released in 1950, he was able to rebuild his business in West Germany before his death in 1972.
