 "I'm Judy B. and lot of kids just assumed I was Junie B. Jones and
had written the books," Blume told The Associated Press. "I'd always
say, 'I didn't write them, but I wish I had.'"
Besides the "Junie B. Jones" series, Park also wrote picture books,
novels for middle school students and even a Hallmark greeting card,
an "insulting" birthday message about getting old. She was a
frequent winner of the Children's Choice Award who never did bother
to write a novel for adults.
"I'm not actually sure I'm grown-up enough for grown-up books," she
once explained.
Park helped found a charitable organization, Sisters in Survival, to
raise money women with ovarian cancer. Random House said
contributions can be made to www.sistersinsurvival.org . Cornelius
Gurlitt told German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview published
Sunday that he wanted to protect the collection built up by his late
father Hildebrand, an art dealer commissioned by the Nazis to sell
works that Adolf Hitler's regime wanted to get rid of. Bavarian
authorities say they suspect the elder Gurlitt may have acquired
pictures taken from Jews by the Nazis — and that this may lead to
restitution claims by the original owners or their heirs.
In his first extensive interview since the case was revealed two
weeks ago, Gurlitt told Der Spiegel that everybody needs something
to love. "And I loved nothing more in life than my pictures," the
magazine quoted him as saying.
The death of his parents and sister were less painful to him than
the loss of the 1,406 paintings, prints and drawings by artists such
as Pablo Picasso, Henry Matisse and Max Liebermann that authorities
hauled out of his apartment last year, he told the magazine.
Der Spiegel said a reporter spent several days interviewing the
collector while he traveled from his home in Munich to visit a
doctor in another city last week.
Officials are investigating whether Gurlitt may have
"misappropriated" the pictures or committed tax offenses in
connection with them. However, a spokesman for Augsburg prosecutors,
who are handling the case, told The Associated Press last week that
Germany's 30-year statute of limitations may prove to be a stumbling
block.
[to top of second column] |
Hildebrand Gurlitt died in 1956, and his wife Helene died in 1967.
Officials were unaware of their son's huge collection until a chance
customs check three years ago led them to the Munich apartment.
Authorities in Bavaria and Berlin kept the find secret for more than
a year and a half. But since the case was revealed by the German
magazine Focus two weeks ago they have come under pressure to find a
solution that will prevent legal obstacles from standing in the way
of rightful claims to the art — particularly if Holocaust survivors
or heirs of those persecuted by the Nazis are involved.
Gurlitt told Der Spiegel that he won't just hand over the art. "I
won't talk to them, and I'm not giving anything back voluntarily,
no, no," he is quoted as saying.
He told the magazine he kept his favorite pictures in a small
suitcase. Each evening he would unpack it to admire them. The
magazine said he also spoke to the pictures.
The magazine described Gurlitt as being in ill health because of a
heart condition, yet fiercely denying any wrongdoing by himself or
his father, whose own Jewish heritage put him in a precarious
position when dealing with the Nazis.
Occasionally he sold pictures for cash, the magazine reported. The
last time was in 2011, when he sold Max Beckmann's painting "The
Lion Tamer" for 725,000 euros. Gurlitt kept a little over 400,000
euros, with the rest going to the family of a Jewish collector who
once owned it, according to the magazine.
The heirs of several Jewish collectors have already come forward to
claim some of the 1,406 works that have now come to light, saying
the pictures were taken from their relatives by force, or sold under
duress.
"It's possible that my father was once offered something from a
private collection," Gurlitt told Der Spiegel. "But he would
definitely not have taken it."
Gurlitt told the magazine that he helped his father spirit the
pictures away from Dresden as the Russian army advanced on the city
in 1945.
[Associated
Press; FRANK JORDANS]
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