B
uenos Aires, Argentina - Argentine police raided a villa in a quiet seaside resort on Tuesday as part of an investigation into the whereabouts of a 17th-century Italian portrait believed to have been looted by a fugitive Nazi officer 80 years ago. The painting, "Portrait of a Lady" by Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi, is thought to have been taken from a Jewish collector during World War II.

    The probe has shed light on Argentina's shadowy past as a haven for Nazis who fled Europe after the war, including high-ranking party members and notorious architects of the Holocaust. Fugitive German fascists brought plundered Jewish property with them, including gold, bank deposits, paintings, sculptures, and furnishings.

    Reporters from the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad spotted what appeared to be the painting in a real estate ad for a home believed to be owned by the descendants of Nazi fugitive Friedrich Kadgien. However, when Argentine authorities raided the house, they found no evidence of the painting but did seize other items that could aid their investigation.

    The "Portrait of a Lady" is listed as part of the inventory stolen from Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker's prominent Amsterdam gallery during World War II. His sole surviving heir, Marei von Saher, has long pursued restitution for her father-in-law's stolen works. The painting's apparent movement to Argentina raises questions about its ownership and potential return to its rightful heirs.

    Friedrich Kadgien, a Nazi party member with ties to Hermann Goering, fled to Switzerland and then Argentina after the war. He was never charged with crimes related to the Nazi regime during his decades in Argentina, where he died in 1978.