Hedwig Stern

Hedwig Stern (née Eichengrün; 1898-1983) was a German Jewish art collector.

Life Hedwig Stern, born Eichengrün in 1898, was the daughter of a textile company owner. She married Fritz Stern (d. 1955).

Throughout her life, she searched for a missing painting, but despite her "serious and diligent efforts," as noted in a report by Petropoulos submitted in a lawsuit, she was never able to locate it. Stern died in 1983. Richard Seewald, Max Unold and other artworks which have ended up in museums.

Nazi persecution When Hitler came to power in Germany, Stern was persecuted due to her Jewish heritage. As mandated by the Nazi's September 1935 Nuremberg Laws, Hedwig Stern was stripped of her German citizenship. In December, she and her husband Fritz fled Munich, leaving behind the art collection. The Sterns successfully escaped Germany in December 1936, arriving in New York in early January 1937. Afterward, they relocated to Berkeley, then Pasadena . The complaint alleges that the work was 'repeatedly and secretly trafficked' after World War II.

Stern's heirs have filed search requests for art looted during the Nazi era on the German Lost Art Foundation database.