Randol Schoenberg's biography reads like a novel. The grandson of Arnold Schönberg – the great Viennese composer who was driven into exile in California by the National Socialists – he came to Austria as a lawyer fighting for the return of looted art.

His most famous client was Maria Altmann, the niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer. The latter’s portrait by Gustav Klimt, known as the "Golden Adele", hung in the Belvedere for decades. Schoenberg secured the painting’s restitution to its rightful owner. Klimt’s masterwork can now be admired in New York's Neue Galerie.

Schoenberg's efforts even caught the attention of Hollywood. In the film “The Woman in Gold,” he was portrayed by Ryan Reynolds, while Altmann was played by Hellen Mirren.

On the occasion of the joint exhibit "Theft" – on view at the Jewish Museum Vienna Judenplatz and the Wien Museum – Randol Schoenberg talks about his battles with the State of Austria and what remains to be done in the struggle for restitution.

Illustration: Gustav Klimt: Porträt von Adele Bloch-Bauer I , 1907. Neue Galerie New York