Irene Beran

Marriage record http://www.badatelna.eu/fond/1073/reprodukce/?zaznamId=170&reproId=... BRNO 131/126

Death https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VM91-Z2H

Jewish Telegraph 13 May 2022

STOLEN PAINTING FINALLY RETURNED AFTER 80 YEARS

IT may have taken four generations, but a painting stolen by the Nazis more than 80 years ago has been reunited with its rightful owners.

Schäfchen (Little Sheep) hung proudly in the home of Irene Beran before the Second World War, and was finally returned to her ancestors, grandson Max and great-grandson Tom in a ceremony in Potsdam, Germany.

“Having the painting returned to us is such an important way for us to look back at our family history,” Tom told the Jewish Telegraph.

“This is a rich history which has crossed wars, pogroms, geography and culture.

“It is such a wide-ranging subject, but this painting has an enormous amount of sentimental value knowing that it was previously owned by my great-grandmother.”

In the early 1900s, Irene along with husband Philipp and his younger brother, Bruno, was building her artistic collection.

The family had earned their wealth from the woollen textile industry, and accrued a collection which mostly comprised of work from artists in their close circle, including Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele.

Bruno chose to make painting his career, and moved to Munich where he befriended landlord and artist Hugo von Habermann as well as Thomas Heine, the man who painted Schäfchen.