French Painting Looted during WW2 Looks for Owner

Philippe Hansch, director of the World Peace Center, presents the painting by the French painter Nicolas Rousseau in Verdun, France on Aug. 17, 2020. (AFP Photo)
Philippe Hansch, director of the World Peace Center, presents the painting by the French painter Nicolas Rousseau in Verdun, France on Aug. 17, 2020. (AFP Photo)
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French Painting Looted during WW2 Looks for Owner

Philippe Hansch, director of the World Peace Center, presents the painting by the French painter Nicolas Rousseau in Verdun, France on Aug. 17, 2020. (AFP Photo)
Philippe Hansch, director of the World Peace Center, presents the painting by the French painter Nicolas Rousseau in Verdun, France on Aug. 17, 2020. (AFP Photo)

A drawing by French painter Nicolas Rousseau is back in France in a bid to trace its rightful owners after it was looted during WW2.

The work is currently on display with a sign calling whoever recognizes it or knows its owner, to contact the authorities.

The 19th century drawing was returned to France, to its rightful owner after being returned by the son of the German soldier who took it on orders.

The small untitled artwork is exhibited at the World Centre for Peace, Liberty and Human Rights in the northeastern town of Verdun. Next to it hangs a sign: "If you recognize the landscape or have any information about this painting, we would be grateful if you would let us know."

Over the last two weeks, it has hung in the lobby of the center, which receives around 60,000 visitors a year, in hope that it will nudge someone's memory and lead the painting back to its owners or their heirs.

Philippe Hansch, the center's head, went to fetch the painting from Berlin at the beginning of August and brought it back by car. "We wanted it to be immediately accessible to visitors when they walk in and free of charge," Hansch said.

In the artwork, a figure sits on a riverbank under cloudy skies, surrounded by tall trees and with a village off in the distance.

Rousseau was a member of the Barbizon school of painters, who embraced naturalism in art.

According to Hansch, its true value goes far beyond its market value of 3,000 to 5,000 euros (2,700 to 4,500 sterling pounds).

"The painting is a big symbol of Franco-German friendship and allows the history of World War II to be told with fresh eyes from the French side and German side," he added.



New Searches Underway in Portugal Near Where Madeleine McCann Disappeared in 2007

 A Portuguese official during a search operation in a vast area between the cities of Lagos and Praia da Luz for Madeleine McCann, in Lagos, Portugal, 03 June 2025. (EPA)
A Portuguese official during a search operation in a vast area between the cities of Lagos and Praia da Luz for Madeleine McCann, in Lagos, Portugal, 03 June 2025. (EPA)
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New Searches Underway in Portugal Near Where Madeleine McCann Disappeared in 2007

 A Portuguese official during a search operation in a vast area between the cities of Lagos and Praia da Luz for Madeleine McCann, in Lagos, Portugal, 03 June 2025. (EPA)
A Portuguese official during a search operation in a vast area between the cities of Lagos and Praia da Luz for Madeleine McCann, in Lagos, Portugal, 03 June 2025. (EPA)

Police investigating the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann searched near an abandoned rural building in southern Portugal on Tuesday as they launched fresh probes near the holiday resort where she was last seen 18 years ago.

The case received worldwide interest for several years, with reports of sightings of McCann occurring as far away as Australia, while books and television documentaries were produced about her disappearance.

German investigators and Portuguese police officers and firefighters were searching in the countryside several miles from the Praia da Luz resort, where the 3-year-old disappeared from her bed while on vacation with her family on May 3, 2007.

The teams were seen using pickaxes, shovels and chainsaws to clear dense vegetation and dig near a derelict building. Firefighters pumped water out of a well.

Almost two decades on, investigators in the UK, Portugal and Germany are still piecing together what happened on the night the toddler disappeared. She was in the same room as her brother and sister — 2-year-old twins — while their parents, Kate and Gerry, had dinner with friends outside.

Portuguese police said Monday that detectives were acting on a request from a German public prosecutor as they carry out “a broad range” of searches this week in the area of Lagos, in southern Portugal.

The main suspect is a German national identified by media as Christian Brueckner, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.

He is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the McCann case but hasn’t been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time of the child’s disappearance. Brueckner has denied any involvement.

The last time police resumed searches in the case was in 2023, when detectives from the three countries took part in an operation searching near a dam and a reservoir about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the resort.

McCann's family marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance last month, and expressed their determination to keep searching.