Stolen Painting Found in Dutch Home

May 11, 2026, 10:00
EuropeCulture

Introduction

A painting from World War II was found in a house. Nazi soldiers stole it many years ago.

Main Body

The painting is called 'Portrait of a Young Girl'. A Jewish man named Jacques Goudstikker owned it. Nazi soldiers took it in 1940. Later, a Dutch general named Hendrik Seyffardt bought it at a sale. An expert named Arthur Brand found the painting. He saw a special label and a number on the frame. This proved the painting belonged to Goudstikker. One family member of the general wanted to give the painting back. But other family members are not sure. The law cannot force them to give it back because too much time passed.

Conclusion

The family still has the painting. They must decide to give it back to the Goudstikker family.

Learning

πŸ•°οΈ The 'Past' Story-Teller

To reach A2, you must move from talking about now to talking about then. Notice how this story uses simple words that end in -ed to show the action is finished.

The Pattern: Action + ed = Happened before now.

Examples from the text:

  • stole (special form) β†’ stolen
  • called (name given)
  • owned (had it before)
  • passed (time went by)

πŸ› οΈ Useful Word-Pairs

Look at how we connect people to things in this story. It is a very simple A2 structure:

Person β†’\rightarrow Action β†’\rightarrow Object

  1. Nazi soldiers β†’\rightarrow took β†’\rightarrow it.
  2. Hendrik Seyffardt β†’\rightarrow bought β†’\rightarrow it.
  3. Arthur Brand β†’\rightarrow found β†’\rightarrow the painting.

Quick Tip: When you tell a story, keep this order: Who did What to Which thing.