Jewish Group Accuses Irish Museum of Holding Stolen Art

The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center on Sunday accused an Irish museum of possessing artworks stolen from Jews by the Nazis. The organization said the founders of the Hunt Museum in the city of Limerick were close friends of Austrian Nazi Adolf Mahr, the one-time director of the Irish National Museum. John and Gertrude Hunt moved to Ireland in 1940 from Britain, amidst growing suspicion they were spying for the Nazi regime. Those ties, the center said, raised questions about the origins of some of the artworks held by the museum, one of Ireland's best. The museum's current director, Virginia Teehan, said that although no evidence had been provided proving the presence of stolen art in the museum, an independent inquiry would be conducted, and the founders' son, John Hunt, said if any stolen art was found, it would be returned to its rightful owners. "I do not want anything in that museum that has the slightest question mark over it," Hunt told Irish public television.