Sharon, MA – A Massachusetts man has admitted to stealing a painting that a neighbor’s family had smuggled out of Europe after it was damaged by German Nazis.
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Steven Zaharoff, 58, of Sharon, Mass., was sentenced to one year of probation. He pleaded guilty March 12.
But the painting is still missing. Zaharoff claims it was stolen from his garage.
The painting disappeared in 2007 when the owner, Charles Marks, gave Zaharoff a copy of his house keys before leaving on a trip. Zaharoff originally told police he found the painting in the bushes on the owner’s property.
Marks has since died. His relatives say that the painting, an oil landscape of snowy woods, was slashed during Kristallnacht, a massive outbreak of violence against Jews in 1938 in Germany.
The painting was repaired in the United States.
William R. Keating, the Norfolk County district attorney, has put the painting on the Art Loss Register in London.
“The value of this painting is not monetary. It lies in a history that must never be forgotten,” Keating said in a statement. “It belongs with Mr. Marks’ descendants.”