Jak tatínek Madeleine Albrightové prý zkonfiskoval majetek, který mu nepatřil

Tento text vyšel v týdeníku Sunday Times 28. března 1999, těsně po zahájení bombardování proti Kosovu, takže, byly Britské listy plné jiných zpráv. Přinášíme ho nyní, v českém překladu Vladimíra Neckáře, který na něj Britské listy upozornil. Ale není to žádná novinka, v březnu o věci referovala televize Nova a prý o tom psalo i Právo. Anglický originál je pod českým textem článku.

Otec Madeleine Albrightové si "odvezl do Ameriky válečnou kořist"

The Sunday Times 28.3.1999, napsal Matthew Campbell

Jedna bohata rakouska rodina vyhrozuje soudem americke ministryni zahranicnich veci, Madeleine Albrightove, v trpkem sporu o vzacnou sbirku obrazu a  starozitnosti. Tento spor ma pocatek v chaoticke dobe po skonceni druhe svetove valky.

V doposud nepublikovanem sporu tvrdi potomci rakouskeho prumyslnika Karla Nebricha, ze otec Albrightove, Josef Korbel, zid a urednik na ceskem ministerstvu zahranici, jim ukradl umelecke predmety a starozitnosti v hodnote nekolika milionu dolaru a po skonceni valky utekl s timto majetkem do Ameriky.

Znechuceni neustalym odbyvanim, ktereho se jim dostava od americkeho pravnika zastupujiciho bratra M. Albrightove, Johna Korbela, dedici po rodine Nebrichovych uvazuji o soudnim rizeni, ktere by jim pomohlo k navraceni techto veci, ke kterym patri sbirka obrazu od starych mistru. Zaloba by take mohla byt dosti neprijemnym vzrusenim pro prvni americkou ministryni zahranicnich veci.

"Ani nemohu verit tomu, ze ma americka ministryne poteseni z toho, ze  ji stribrnym priborem nasi rodiny", rekl minuly tyden Nebrichuv pravnuk. "Tyto veci musi byt vraceny nasi rodine".

Albrightova, ktera jako dite s rodici uprchla pred nacismem a potom pred stalinismem, uvadi, ze tyto udalosti pomohly utvorit jeji nazor na svet. Kdyz Nemci okupovali Prahu, jeji rodina odesla do Londyna a bylo ji osm let, kdyz se navratila do ceskeho hlavniho mesta v roce 1945. Korbelovi vsak zjistili, ze nekteri jejich pribuzni, kteri neutekli a byli zide, zahynuli v  koncentracnich taborech. Jako odmenu za sluzbu pro ministerstvo zahranici dostal otec Albrightove luxusni byt v prvnim poschodi domu na  Hradcanskem namesti c.11. Tento byt byl odebran Nebrichovum, presdtoze nebyli cleny nasisticke strany. V Praze prozili v klidu valku jako obcane Rise, ale po jejim ukonceni se stali tercem novych ceskych mocipanu.

Nebrichovi tvrdi, ze si Korbel vzal obrazy, stribro a starozitny nabytek, prestoze tyto veci nebyly uvedeny v rozkazu o zabaveni. "Vzal si vsechno, vzal i  ty hrebiky ze zdi" rekla dcera Nebrichovych, Doris Rennerova. Kdyz byl Korbel jmenovan velvyslancem v Jugoslavii, prestehoval svoji rodinu a  udajne i  tyto nepravem nabyte veci do Belehradu.

O tri roky pozdeji byl v Ceskoslovensku prevrat a Korbel byl v nebezpeci. Cela jeho rodina odjela do Ameriky, kde se stal profesorem na Denverske universite.

Dlouhou dobu hledali Nebrichovi v Americe nejakeho "dr. Korbela", ale az v 1996, kdy Albrightova jako americka velvyslankyne u Spojenych narodu navstivila Prahu, kde mluvila o svych krasnych vzpominkach, si teprve Nebrichovi uvedomili, ze ona je Korbelova dcera.

Harmer zastupuje dve Nebrichovy dosud zijici deti, Doris Rennerovou, ktera je jeho prateta, a prababicku Ruth Harmerovou. Prave jeho prababicka zacala bombardovat urad Albrightove faxy a dopisy se seznamem veci, ktere jim Korbel udajne odebral. Mezi ne take patri 20 obrazu, jako treba dilo od benatskeho mistra Tintoretta a jeden od Andrea del Sarto, ktery byl nejvyznamnejsim umelcem sestnacteho stoleti.

"Zila jste v nasem byte jako osmilete dite a tak jsem si jista, ze si pamatujete na obrazy v prilozenem seznamu", napsal Harmer Albrightove v  unoru 1997. Take navrhl, ze by se meli setkat. Odpoved vsak nebyla moc nadejna. Ministerstvo zahranicnich veci mu napsalo: "Jestli chcete, mel byste tuto zalezitost projednavat s vladou Ceske republiky". Neodrazen, Hamer letel loni do Washingtonu, kde navstivil pravnika Korbelovych. "V podstate nam rekl, ze nemame zadnou nadeji a varoval nas abychom moc nekriceli, nebot jde o velmi mocnou zenu".

Pravnik odmitl o pripade hovorit a Korbel ,ktery pracuje pro ucetni firmu Price Waterhouse Coopers v Arlingtonu, Virginia, se k veci nechtel vyjadrit.

Hamer uvazuje o zazalovani Albrightove, Korbela a jejich sestry Kathy. Nedavno vsak byl potesen tim, ze Albrightova se sverila zurnalistum pri psani sveho zivotopisu o tom, ze nektere obrazy stale jsou ve vlastnictvi jejiho bratra nebo sestry. Zadny z techto obrazu udajne nevisi v byte Albrightove ve washingtonskem Georgetownu.

Hamer mluvil o domnence jeho rodiny, ze pravdepodobne Korbel senior nektere obrazy prodal, aby mel na finacovani sveho zacatku v Americe. "Prijali jsme to, ze deti Josefa Korbela nejsou zodpovedny za jeho ciny", napsal ve faxu zaslanemu Korbelovu pravnimu zastupci, "presto vsak rozhodne od nich ocekavame, ze vsechny nase veci poctive sepisi do seznamu a  vrati nam je."

Rennerova rika, ze si pamatuje, kdyz Josef Korbel argumentoval o naroku na  majetek Nebrichovych, nebot ho pry naciste pripravili o jeho majetek.

"To, ze vsichni jeho pribuzni zemreli v koncentracnich taborech, je velmi smutne ale neopravnuje ho to zase vzit vsechno nam", rekla minuly tyden ze  sveho bydliste na brehu jezera Wolfgang nedaleko Salzburku.

Albright's father 'took war loot to America'

by Matthew Campbell, Washington

A wealthy Austrian family is threatening legal action against Madeleine Albright, the American secretary of state, in an acrimonious row over a priceless collection of paintings and antiques that has its roots in the chaotic aftermath of the second world war.

In a hitherto unpublicised dispute, descendants of Karl Nebrich, an Austrian industrialist, claim that Albright's father, Josef Korbel, a former Czech foreign ministry official who was Jewish, stole millions of dollars' worth of art and furniture from them, then fled with it and his family to America at the end of the war.

Tired of endless brush-offs from an American lawyer acting for John Korbel, Albright's brother, Nebrich's heirs are considering legal proceedings to reclaim the property - including a collection of old masters - in what risks becoming an embarrassing distraction for America's first female secretary of state.

"I cannot believe the American secretary of state enjoys eating with my family's silver," Philip Harmer, a great-grandson of Nebrich, said last week. "These things must be handed over to my family."

Albright fled from Nazism and then Stalinism as a child and has cited these events as having shaped her world view. After escaping to London when the Germans marched into Prague in 1939, her family returned to the Czech capital in 1945, when Albright was eight. They found that several of the family's Jewish relatives who had stayed behind had died in concentration camps. A luxurious first-floor flat at 11 Hradsanke Street in Prague was assigned to Albright's father as a reward for his services to the Czech foreign ministry. It had been expropriated from the Nebriches, who, although not members of the Nazi party, had lived comfortably as citizens of the Reich during the war but then found themselves out of favour with the Czech authorities when the war ended.

The Nebriches allege that Korbel took possession of paintings, silver and antique furniture, though these were not included in the expropriation order. "He took the lot, even the nails from the wall," said Doris Renner, a daughter of Nebrich. When Korbel was appointed ambassador to Yugoslavia, he moved his family - and, allegedly, the treasure trove of art - to Belgrade.

Three years later, however, Czechoslovakia's communists staged a coup and Korbel, an opponent of the communists, was in danger. The family fled to America, where he became a professor at the University of Denver.

The Nebrich family tried for decades to track a "Dr Korbel" in America. But it was not until 1996, when Albright - then America's ambassador to the United Nations - revisited her childhood home in Prague and spoke of her happy memories, that the Nebrich family realised she was Korbel's daughter.

Harmer, acting for Nebrich's two surviving children - Renner, his great-aunt, and Ruth Harmer, his grandmother - began bombarding Albright's office with faxes, letters and lists of items allegedly taken by Korbel. Among them were 20 paintings - including one by Tintoretto, the Venetian master, and one by Andrea del Sarto, another of the most important artists of the 16th century.

"You lived in our flat as an eight-year-old child and I am sure you will remember some of the paintings mentioned on the attached list," Harmer wrote to Albright in February 1997. He suggested a meeting. The response was not promising. "You may wish to raise this matter with the government of the Czech Republic," a State Department official wrote back.

After more faxes from Harmer, Albright handed the file to John Korbel, her younger brother. Michael Jaffe, his lawyer, wrote to Harmer in October, 1997, saying: "There is no basis whatever for thinking that any artworks of the late Ambassador Korbel came to him improperly."

Undeterred, Harmer flew to Washington last year to see the lawyer. "Essentially he said we have no case and warned us not to make a noise since this powerful woman is involved," Harmer alleged.

The lawyer declined to discuss the case last week and Korbel, who works for the accounting firm Price Waterhouse Coopers in Arlington, Virginia, was unavailable for comment.

Harmer is considering taking Albright, Korbel and their sister, Kathy, to court. He was heartened recently by Korbel's reported acknowledgment to a journalist writing a biography of Albright that at least some works on the Nebrich list belong either to him or to Kathy. None of the paintings is believed to be hanging in Albright's home in Georgetown, Washington.

Harmer said the family believed that Korbel Sr might have sold some of the paintings to finance his start in America. "We accept that Josef Korbel's children are not responsible for their father's activities," he wrote in another fax to Korbel's lawyer last week. "However," "we definitely expected them to list any items honestly and to hand them over."

Renner says she recalls Josef Korbel arguing that he was entitled to take the Nebriches' belongings as compensation for having lost everything to the Nazis.

"All his relatives died in concentration camps," she said last week from her home on the shores of Lake Wolfgang near Salzburg. "That is very sad. But it doesn't justify him taking everything from us."