On December 6, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) John C. Eckenrode, FBI Philadelphia, announced the recovery of three stolen paintings by Heinrich Burkel (German, 1802-1869) valued at approximately $125,000.

The paintings are the property of the Pirmasens City Museum, Pirmasens, Germany, and were part of a grouping of paintings stolen on March 22, 1945, at the conclusion of World War II.

The paintings titled “Amalfi Cave,” circa 1845, “After the Hunt,” circa 1830, and “The Horse Round-up,” circa 1861-1863, were acquired by the Pirmasens City Museum in 1925. They were exhibited in the city museum until they were taken to the Husterhoh School after May 13, 1942, to protect them from allied bombing. On September 19, 1945, the museum reported that “about 50 paintings which had been stored in the air-raid shelter at Husterhoh school during the war have been lost during the arrival of the American troops on March 22, 1945.”

The paintings were brought to the United States by unknown subjects and were ultimately acquired in the mid-1960s by a New Jersey resident. In the late 1980s, they were handed down to his daughter, who has had them ever since. On October 25, 2005, they were offered for sale through the William H. Bunch Auction and Appraisal Company, Concordeville, Penn., where they were advertised both through print media and the Internet.

As a result of this advertising, Heike Wittmer, Pirmasens Museum director and archivist, identified the paintings and contacted German authorities. The chief cultural affairs officer of the German Embassy, Washington, D.C., contacted the FBI and the auction company and advised of the museum’s claim. As a result, the sale of the paintings was halted. Subsequently, the consigner of the paintings agreed to voluntarily have them returned to Germany. The FBI took custody of the stolen paintings and will facilitate the return.