NYC NOW - January 26, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

Dozens of tenants who were allegedly charged excessive broker fees in New York City will get more than $200,000 in restitution. Plus, Rep. Jamaal Bowman kicked off his campaign, heating up a primary race for the congressional seat in the Bronx and Westchester. And finally, the Manhattan District Attorney returns art stolen by the Nazis to the heirs of its one-time owner.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. Dozens of tenants who were allegedly charged excessive broker fees in New York City will get more than $200,000 in restitution. Governor Kathy Hochel says it's part of the state's settlement with the real estate brokerage firm, citywide apartments. That also includes a $50,000 fine. A state investigation found that in one instance, the firm collected more than, than $20,000 in overcharges from a tenant searching for housing. Hockel says the firm has committed to changing its practices.

The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The primary race for a congressional seat in the Bronx in Westchester is heating up as incumbent representative Jamal Bowman kicks off his campaign. WMYC's Michelle Bocan Negra has the details. Bowman is facing a primary challenge from Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who's criticized Bowman's stance on the Israel Hamas war. Bowman has described Israel's attacks on Gaza as, quote, genocide, and his re-election kickoff felt more like a war protest than a campaign rally. He repeated calls for a ceasefire.

If we weren't fighting for freedom and humanity and equality and our children, they would not be coming after us. The pro-Israel lobbying organization APEC is supporting Latimer. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attended the event to support Bowman. calling the race a critical inflection point. The primary is June 25th. Stay close. There's more after the break. Before the Holocaust, Fritz Grumbaum was a Jewish art collector and cabaret performer, known for ridiculing the Nazis.

He also raised two children after their own father died in World War I. Last week, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office reunited the descendants of those children with two pieces of artworks the Nazis stole from Groombaum while he was in a concentration camp. WNYC's Samantha Max has the story. Fritz Groombaum was once a household name in Austrian, Germany. He sang. He was a comedian.

Here he is, introducing one long-winded joke. And he was also an outspoken political discipline. He risked his life mocking the Nazis on screen and on stage. Grumbaum was also a prominent cabaret performer and is said to be the inspiration for the MC character in the Broadway musical Cabaret. After the Germans invaded in 1938, court records show, Grumbaum tried to flee the Nazi regime, but he couldn't get across the Czechoslovakian border. The Nazis arrested him, and he spent the rest of his life in concentration camps.

He died at Dachau in 1941. But even at Dachau, the comedian put on shows for his fellow prisoners. Even when he was dying. Attorney Raymond Zaud has represented Grumbaum's family for nearly two decades. He says Grumbaum was still cracking jokes just two weeks before his death when he stood on the tables and put on a New Year's show. That's how he kept the... their spirits alive.

While Groombaum was at Dachau, prosecutors say, the Nazis inventoried and impounded his hundreds of artworks. Then his collection disappeared. Petro Winter, with the National Museums of Berlin, says the Nazis often confiscated Jews assets, including their art. Maybe the art was later sold to make money.

But it took until the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s for researchers like her to really start looking for stolen pieces. Now, Winter says, her team in Berlin has returned more than 350 objects, which the rightful owners often sell or donate back to the museums. With so few Holocaust survivors left, she says it's important to share their history. We try to communicate even more the stories of the Jewish families, of the former owners, and not only the story of the object. In the U.S., descendants of Holocaust victims have two main pathways to get their artwork back. A federal law allows the heirs of Holocaust victims to sue for stolen property.

Prosecutors can also bring criminal charges and seize looted art. The Manhattan DA's office has an entire unit dedicated to stolen antiquities cases and has returned thousands of artworks and other precious relics. That's how Groombaum's heirs were recently reunited with two of his drawings. Thank you all for taking the time to share an hour celebration. On a recent Friday afternoon, the Manhattan District Attorney's fluorescently lit office transformed into a quasi-art gallery. At the front of the room, prosecutors displayed a couple drawings worth a combined $2.5 million on small wooden easels. You have two drawings before you.

Matthew Bogdano's with the Manhattan DA's Antiquities Trafficking Unit gave some backstory on the artworks, girl with black hair and portrait of a man. Both of these drawings first were prepared, drawn, sketched by Egon Sheila, owned by Fritz Groombaum, stolen by the Nazis in 1938. Bogdano said the two drawings were laundered through Switzerland and then sold to a gallery in New York City. Eventually, they made their way to Ohio and Pennsylvania. Last year, law enforcement seized them. Now, they were returning the artworks to Groombauer.

Heir's heirs. Timothy Rife has spent decades searching the globe for Grumbaum's lost art collection. The two were related. Groombaum was Rife's grandfather's cousin. And after Rife's grandfather died in World War I, Groombaum helped raise Rife's father and uncle. Rife says seeing the art up close made him feel more connected to a family hero. These were on his walls. He looked at them.

He loved them. The DA's office has now returned ten art words. to Groombaum's heirs. Rife's family is auctioning them off at Christi's and using the proceeds to fund scholarships for artists so they can pursue their passions just as Groombaum did. Rife says the performer was known for his generosity and would often give loans to musicians,

stagehands, and other theater workers. He never asked for repayment, but he knew they were too proud to accept a gift. So he was looking out, he was always looking out for other people. Rife says his grandmother used to call him Little Fritz Groombaum But he didn't realize what that meant Until many years later

I guess I was a little mischievous Is why I think she did that And all I knew Was that this was an honorable thing to be called That she did it with love and honor Before his grandmother died Rife says she wrote a manuscript About Groombaum's life

She thought only she and my dad and my uncle Would ever remember him Raif says getting back pieces of Groombaum's art collection has allowed his legacy to live on. That's WNYC's Samantha Max. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Shout out to our production team. It includes Sean Boutage, Amber Bruce, Ave Carrillo, Audrey Cooper, Leora Noam Kravitz, Jared Marcel, Jen Munson, and Wayne Showmeister, with help from all of my colleagues in the WMYC Newsroom. Our showout was designed by the people at Buck

and our music was composed by Alexis Quadrado. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back next week.