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Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938, known as the Anschluss, and the Nazis’ persecution of its Jewish population also casts a murky shadow over the picture’s ownership history.

Other questions have arisen about what happened to the artwork during the Anschluss, when Austria was annexed into the Third Reich.

The weight of his nation’s history bore heavily on Mr. Brus, who was born in the village of Ardning in 1938, the year of the Anschluss, the annexation of the country by Adolf Hitler, a native of Austria, into the Nazi Reich.

After Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938, known as the Anschluss, Mr. Reichmann’s father transferred the family’s money to London and converted other assets to gold, which funded their escape to Paris later that year.

After the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Germany, Samuel transferred his bank accounts to London and converted his assets into gold, which he used to finance the family’s escape.