Statement Neumann caused by the publication in the Der Spiegel interview with Norman Rosenthal, former Secretary of the British Royal Academy of Arts and one of the most influential curators in Europe. In this interview, Rosenthal reiterated the thesis of the need to halt the restitution because the exemption from the state museums of valuable works of art does not lead to atone to the victims of war, but to the best deals on the art market. For the first time on this, Rosenthal spoke at the end of 2008 in the pages of the influential publication The Art Newspaper. In an interview with Der Spiegel Rosenthal compared the heirs seeking restitution from the vultures.

Rosenthal specifically focused on the return to Germany property removed to the Soviet Red Army as booty. In his view, all of them, including the Bremen collection should remain in Russia. At the same time to return to Germany, this valuable collection of graphics and some other collections is an important task.

The agency Bloomberg, returning to the reaction germanskogo Minister of Culture in an interview with Rosenthal, said that when Bernd Neumann in Germany, there were special government agencies involved in establishing the origin of works of art in public meetings of the FRG. Thus, for Germany the problem of restitution is double-edged