Galerie Hoffman

By Mr. Barry Bernhardt

What makes this story unique is that it connects the seemingly improbable links between Russia, Germany, France, Canada and Argentina in the context of Nazi looted art during WW2. And yet, as this story unfolds, the events seem to be so probable that it could have happened and, in fact, probably has happened. During the '30s and '40s, the Nazi regime looted art throughout Germany and other occupied countries in Europe, particularly the art of Jews. Hermann Göring was the primary beneficiary of the plunder. The novel begins by introducing the reader to young Uri Hoffman and his life-long friend, Gerda Levi. They are Ashkenazi Jews in Hamburg, Germany. They fall in love, marry and establish an art dealership in Hamburg in the early 1900s. Uri and Gerda's daughter, Sarah Hoffman, becomes an integral part of their shop as the Nazi regime in Germany takes hold. In 1938, at the age of 18, Sarah is raped by, Karl Dietrich, who she knows from the art school that they both attend in Hamburg. Unknown to Sarah, Karl is the nephew of Hermann Göring and is a young member of the SS. After the rape and the events of Kristallnacht, Uri and Gerda encourage Sarah to flee Germany and apprentice at the art dealership of one of Uri's friends, Paul Rosenberg, in Paris. Uri and Gerda make the fateful decision to stay in Hamburg. As the Nazi's invade first Poland, the low countries and then France, Sarah flees yet again, this time from Paris to Montreal. Shortly after arriving in Montreal in 1940, Sarah meets and falls in love with Joseph Becker. Joseph is the son of a Volga German immigrant, Francis Becker, who in the early 1900s had escaped the vindictive arm of Russian Czar, Nicholas II, after the failed mutiny on the Battleship Potemkin. Francis finds safety and opportunity in Canada and becomes a farmer in Southern Alberta. Joseph has a special skill with horses and is hired to escort a train carload of horses from Lethbridge to Montreal. After Sarah and Joseph meet, Joseph joins the Canadian Army and is involved in the Allied campaign in Italy against the Nazis. Meanwhile, Karl Dietrich has joined the Wehrmacht and is also involved in the Nazi's defense of Italy. At the Battle of Monte Cassino, Karl is taken prisoner by the Canadian division that Joseph is a part of, and Joseph and Karl have an unpleasant meeting. Near the end of the war, Göring contacts his nephew, Karl, and gives him guidance and instruction to smuggle much of the looted art that he had acquired during the war, to Argentina, a safe haven for post war Nazis. After the war, Sarah and Joseph marry and settle in Montreal and in 1948 Joseph discovers that his father's brother, Adam Becker, had left Russia for opportunities in Argentina, not knowing that Francis was in Canada. Joseph and Sarah plan a trip to Argentina to meet Adam and while there they happen to tour an art shop in Buenos Aires. Sarah is shocked to discover a piece that she recognizes from her father's shop in Hamburg. Even more shocking, Sarah discovers that Karl, using another name, is the owner of the shop. The climax of the story involves the efforts of Sarah and the Allies' 'Monuments Men' of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program in revealing Karl's true identity, resulting in his suicide, and in discovering and recovering some, but my no means all, of Uri, Gerda and Sarah's looted art. For the next 50+ years, Sarah and Joseph's son, Benjamin, carries on the long and, sometimes, discouraging effort to recover looted art through negotiation and the judicial process.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0CND1ZN18
• ISBN13: 9798867697723
• Release Date: November 2023
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 283 Pages
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.6" x 6.0"