The Federal Foreign Office is returning the painting Bust Portrait of a Man/Prince Albrecht August von Lippe-Detmold by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller to the heirs of the late Jewish art dealer Hans Lion.

This case illustrates how the restitution of cultural property confiscated especially from Jewish citizens during the National Socialist regime has not yet been completed – even 80 years on.

The Federal Foreign Office rigorously pursues all indications that an artwork in its collection may have been confiscated in the context of Nazi persecution and seeks to find a just and fair solution for restitution in accordance with the Washington Principles.

The restitution underscores the German Government’s ongoing efforts under the Washington Principles and as part of its own best practices. As recently as 1 December 2025, the German Government, acting in conjunction with the Länder and municipalities as well as in close liaison with the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the Jewish Claims Conference, established a new Court of Arbitration for Nazi-looted Cultural Property with a view to further simplifying and improving the restitution of items looted by the Nazis.

Background on the painting that has now been returned:

The Federal Foreign Office already in 2016 reported having found the painting, registering it in the Lost Art Database of the German Lost Art Foundation. Research commissioned by the Federal Foreign Office determined that the painting, which dates from 1834, had been loaned out in 1937 by Hans Lion for an exhibition in Salzburg. Between 1938 and 1945, the painting became part of the holdings of Nazi Reich Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop; after the end of the war, it resurfaced in Land Schleswig-Holstein as part of the Ribbentrop Collection. In 1955, it was identified as being formerly owned by the Reich and was transferred to the holdings of the Federal Foreign Office.

Hans Lion and his two brothers had an art dealership in the 1920s and 30s in Munich, with branch offices in Berlin, Carlsbad and Marienbad. Between the end of 1936 and mid-1937, faced with increasing pressure from the National Socialist regime, the three brothers were forced to emigrate to France and the United States. They were accompanied by their families and had to leave almost all of their assets behind. Hans Lion died in 1956 in Vienna, where he had been born.