The History Podcast
Episode: The House at Number 48 – 7. Finding The Money
Air Date: October 24, 2025
Host: Charlie Northcote (BBC Radio 4)

Episode Overview

In this gripping installment of "The House at Number 48," host Charlie Northcote follows Antony Easton's ongoing quest to reclaim his Jewish family’s vast fortune, stolen by the Nazis and dispersed throughout Germany. The episode introduces investigator Jana Slavova, whose meticulous work uncovers the fate of lost properties, looted art, and the individuals who profited—sometimes to this day—from the Eisner family’s assets. Together, they unravel the connections between a missing painting, the infamous “house at number 48,” and a German family who still live in Antony’s ancestral home.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Inheritance of Secrets

• Antony Easton describes the magnitude of his family's loss:
  • Quote: “My grandmother lost the equivalent of, let's say, 60, 70 million euros worth of property in Berlin, and my grandfather lost probably a billion euros worth of shares in his steel company.” (01:28, Antony Easton)

2. Meet Jana Slavova: The Investigator

• Hired by Antony to trace his family's lost assets, Jana lays out her approach:
  • Languages: English, German, Italian, Russian, French; reads Dutch, Polish, Czech.
  • Quote: “My job is to establish what exactly was stolen. How did it change hands, how did it travel through time, where was it, at what time, with whom, and then localize it. So I have to find where it is today.” (02:03, Jana Slavova)

3. Personality & Methods

• Jana’s precision and persistence set her apart:
  • Quote: “Yes, [I am meticulous]. I don’t like when plans change… I do not let go easily.” (03:56–04:04, Jana Slavova)
  • She demands every shred of documentation from Antony, dives into archives, cross-references ownership records, and quickly uncovers new troves of evidence.
  • Quote: “I know which records I should be able to see, even if they say I cannot see them.” (04:22, Jana Slavova)
• Results early on: More than 10 lost properties, various valuables, and art found. (05:04)

4. Facing a Difficult Truth about Nazi Looting

• The inheritance didn’t vanish; German citizens, and their descendants, still benefit today.
  • Quote: “The Nazi party definitely took part of it. Regular German people profited out of them, took them as well.” (05:13, Jana Slavova)
• Contributing insight from author David De Jong:
  • Quote: “German society... seemingly does a great job through memorials to remember the victims of Nazi crimes. But on a micro level, conversations are still not being had about what did our grandparents do during the Third Reich?... These are very still, very difficult and painful conversations to be held.” (05:50, David De Jong)

5. The Eisenvalswerk Painting: Symbol and Evidence

• Painting by Hans Baluschek, previously hanging in the Eisner family steelworks, is now in the Brohan Museum in Berlin—but not on display.
  • Quote: “The painting is not on display. And I feel that's right because they shouldn’t really still have it.” (07:45, Antony Easton)
• Antony’s challenge: File a restitution claim without clear records (“provenance gap”) from the 1910s to 1970s.
  • Quote: “I had no real plan. I didn’t know how to write to a museum saying, you’ve got a painting and I think it’s ours.” (08:34, Antony Easton)

6. Cracking the Mystery: The House at Number 48

• A crucial revelation: The painting was sold to the Brohan Museum from Antony’s former family home, number 48, now owned by a different family.
  • Quote: “I just suddenly realized that there was the same street name and the same number was on both sides of my screen... I can still feel it. I felt quite sick because I realized these were the same places.” (10:50–11:45, Antony Easton and Jana Slavova)
• Discovery: Martin Hartig, a tax advisor who seized the Eisner family’s assets in 1938, passed the house to his descendants, who still live there.
  • Quote: “Martin Hartig's direct descendants continue to live in that property. The house at number 48.” (13:16, Narrator)
  • The painting’s sale, the current residents, and multiple generations profiting are all directly linked.

7. Personal Confrontation & Emotional Impact

• Antony describes his reaction seeing the Hartig family’s name still on the bell at number 48:
  • Quote: “80 years ago, my family lost this property to another family and 80 years later, they still live there. I was gobsmacked, really. Just astonished.” (14:20, Antony Easton)

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “My job is to establish what exactly was stolen ... I have to find where it is today.”
  — Jana Slavova (02:03)

• “Regular German people profited out of them, took them as well.”
  — Jana Slavova (05:13)

• “German society... does a great job through memorials... But on a micro level, conversations are still not being had about what did our grandparents do during the Third Reich?”
  — David De Jong (05:50)

• “It’s not like winning the lottery, but you check your numbers... these were the same places.”—
  Antony Easton on discovering the connection between the property and painting (10:50–11:45)

• “Martin Hartig's direct descendants continue to live in that property. The house at number 48.”
  — Narrator (13:16)

• “80 years ago, my family lost this property to another family and 80 years later, they still live there ... I was gobsmacked, really. Just astonished.”
  — Antony Easton (14:20)

Timeline & Timestamps of Key Segments

• 01:11–01:43 – Introduction to Antony’s family history and scale of theft
• 02:03–03:08 – Introduction and background of investigator Jana Slavova
• 04:22–05:13 – Challenges of investigating Nazi-era assets; insight into Jana’s methods
• 05:50–06:56 – David De Jong on Germany’s reckoning with the past
• 07:08–08:10 – Story of the Eisenvalswerk painting and its current whereabouts
• 09:21–10:34 – Provenance gap: barriers to restitution claims
• 10:50–11:50 – Discovery of the crucial connection between the painting, the property, and the Hartig family
• 13:00–14:20 – Emotional reaction to seeing the Hartig family still in possession of the home
• 14:40–end – Teaser for next episode: confronting the Hartig family

Episode Tone

The episode is investigative, somber, and at times intensely personal. The speakers express a mixture of clinical determination (Jana), frankness tinged with frustration (Antony), and reflective commentary (David De Jong, the narrator). The emotional climax arrives as Antony confronts the persistence of injustice across generations.

For listeners, “Finding The Money” reveals just how tangible the legacy of Nazi looting remains, not as distant history but as present reality—homes, fortunes, and lost legacies that shape families' lives even today.