Uta Werner has appealed the adverse decision of the Munich court last month with respect to her challenge to Cornelius Gurlitt’s will. Werner, the cousin of Cornelius Gurlitt, argued that the will written by Gurlitt that named the Kunstmuseum Bern as his heir (and thus to his art collection). The Munich court previously upheld the will, making the Bern museum the sole heir to Gurlitt in all respects, including not only the trove found in Munich but some 200 (arguably more significant) works found in his Salzburg, Austria home.
Werner has now appealed the decision, to the court that made it in the first instance. That court may also refer the matter to an appeals court.
Needless to say the prospect that someone other than the Swiss museum would be the owner is destabilizing. But while it has provided a pretext to delay restitution of those objects that the Gurlitt Task Force has identified as Nazi-looted art, it should not. Werner has already agreed to restitute these objects if she prevails.
