Greetings... I am a professional piano technician working on a project to e= stablish the provenance of two Petrof Grand Pianos both located in Austria = before the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938/1939. One piano for which I h= ave the serial number is here in the US and may have been brought here as a= war souvenir. It would be extremely important to arrange for its return to= the heirs of the last owner. The second Petrof was listed on a property cl= aim seeking to protect the piano from confiscation in 1946. The owner was G= rete Haas who fled the Nazi annexation and went to New York City. Her mothe= r Anna Haas stayed in her Vienna apartment throughout the war. Unfortunatel= y the claim had no serial number on it so we do not know if the one here is= the Haas piano. The Haas apartment was at Neustiftgasse 55/14 Vienna VII. = Grete Haas passed away in 1986 in Winter Park Florida. I have no way to kno= w if the piano was ever moved to the US after 1946 or if it stayed in Austr= ia with Anna Haas. Perhaps someone can provide information about how proper= ty is distributed after the owner or custodians death in Austria. Is there = a probate court and estate inventory ? On the export side how would a piano= be shipped to the USA and what manifests/bills of ladings would be needed = ? where could one search ?
