The House at Number 48: 7. Finding The Money

Summary

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

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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.

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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)

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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)

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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

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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.

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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.

Transcript

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

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[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

When Anthony Easton's dad died in England 16 years ago, he discovered a world of deeply buried family secrets. His descendants had once been one of the richest Jewish families in Germany, and they'd lost everything under the Nazis.

[Anthony Easton]

So 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.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

Anthony is the heir to the multi billion pound fortune that was taken from his grandparents. After spending more than a decade deciphering their past, he's been investigating the whereabouts of of their stolen wealth today. And to help him do this, he's hired a young and brilliant investigator.

[Jana Slavova]

My name is Jana Slavova. 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.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

So you're kind of like a crime detective, but for the past, I guess, yeah. Jana has been tracing who currently possesses Anthony's family fortune, their incredible artwork and their properties. They're still out there somewhere. Real people are hanging Eisner pictures on their walls. Families are living in former Eisner homes, and Yana Slavova has been hunting them down.

[Jana Slavova]

I speak English, German, Italian, Russian, French, and I can read Dutch, Polish and Czech because of the languages. It's quite easy to do this work for me, I think.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

You don't like failure?

[Jana Slavova]

No, I haven't experienced it much in my life, to be honest.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

And the history podcast. This is the house at number 48, I'm Charlie Northcote. Episode 7 Finding the Money Jana Slavova is never late. She normally wears a suit. Her notes are filed in immaculate little plastic folders. And the first time I met her for an interview, I sent her the wrong location by mistake. She didn't look happy. Would you describe yourself as meticulous?

[Jana Slavova]

Yes.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

How does it kind of manifest in your life?

[Jana Slavova]

I don't like when plans change.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

Like this morning.

[Jana Slavova]

Yes. I do not let go easily.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

Investigating assets stolen under the Nazis is a famously difficult process in Germany. But Jana has the kind of personality and the skills that cuts through all of that red tape.

[Jana Slavova]

I know which records I should be able to see, even if they say I cannot see them. My first step was to ask him what he has on paper and what he knows about his family. I needed to know everything. Names, birth dates, who was who, pictures, whatever he has, I wanted to see.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

Within weeks of Anthony hiring Janae, she uncovered troves of documents about his relatives that he'd never seen before.

[Jana Slavova]

Their properties there. Sometimes there would be art bonds, bank accounts, tax records, sometimes radios and furs and jewelry and. Yeah, all types of stuff.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

How many physical properties did you find?

[Jana Slavova]

More than 10.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

More than 10 properties?

[Jana Slavova]

Yes.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

What happened to all the money, all the property?

[Jana Slavova]

I think it's gone.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

And who took it?

[Jana Slavova]

Well, the Nazi Party definitely took part of it. Regular German people profited out of them, took them as well.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

This is the uncomfortable truth about the Eisner family fortune. It didn't evaporate into thin air 80 years ago. In reality, individual people took pieces of their pie. German people and the descendants of those Germans continue to benefit from Anthony's family wealth today. Author David De Jong has written a whole book about this.

[David De Jong]

Germany likes to refer to itself as Verganheits be Weltigungswaldmeister, world champion of reckoning with the past. German society, a society of 86 million people, seemingly does a great job through memorials to remember the victims of Nazi crimes. But on a micro level, across German society, conversations are still not being had about what did our grandparents do during the Third Reich? Germany's wealthiest dynasties. Today, families that control BMW, Porsche, Dr. Oetker. They would celebrate their fathers and grandfathers for their business successes, would leave out any mention of their mass war crimes, their Nazi Party memberships, their voluntary SS memberships. These are very still, very difficult and painful conversations to be held.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

So who did benefit from the Eisner family fortune? One of the first things Anthony was able to trace was the painting discovered by his childhood nanny Marianne, at the very start of this journey.

[Anthony Easton]

Eisenfeldswerk is the ultimate representation of the Eisner's and it is a painting of endeavor and achievement.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

The Eisenwaldswerk painting by Hans Balichek depicts a burning furnace inside an Eisner family steel factory, A symbol of their industrial power and success. Today the painting is in a museum in Germany's capital.

[Anthony Easton]

Okay, so now we're in the ground floor of the Brohan Museum in Charlottenburg, to the west of Berlin.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

But the painting's not on display.

[Anthony Easton]

The painting is not on display. And I feel that's right because they shouldn't really still have it. So if it was on display, I would think that would be a little bit confrontational. I think everyone's afraid of media scrutiny. You know, I think anyone's afraid of scrutiny. And I think particularly when you've got.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

Nazi looted art in your collection.

[Anthony Easton]

It's a very, very sensitive area. Yeah.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

Anthony has filed a restitution claim against the Brohan Museum. A formal application to take the Eisenfelswerk painting back into his family. But this is not a straightforward process. In order to reclaim it, he needs to prove that it was stolen from his relatives. This painstaking work has taken years.

[Anthony Easton]

You know, I'm an amateur historian. I'm not even a historian, I'm an amateur. And 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. You know, it's not the easiest question one could ask when you reached out.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

To them to say, this painting was once owned by my grandfather. You think it depicts a factory he once owned. What did they respond?

[Anthony Easton]

What they essentially did is they, they pushed me away as much as they could. I started looking through law firms who specialized in this sort of business. And once they found out the painting wasn't worth 20 million, it wasn't really something they were that interested in. So I had to find another way of doing.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

With no legal support, the odds were stacked against Anthony. There was a big problem with his restitution case. The Eisenhowerswerk painting was owned by his great grandfather in 1910. But then there was what's known as a Provenance Gap, a 60 year hole in the historical record before the painting resurfaced again in the Brohan museum in the 1970s. What happened to the painting during that 60 year period was a mystery. How did it leave the walls of the Eisner family home and end up in a museum. Unless Anthony and Jana could prove that the painting sale to the museum was somehow linked to Nazi persecution, their restitution claim would fall apart.

[Jana Slavova]

I had a hunch that there was more there besides those records. And then I proceed with reading everything I can find on the family. Where they lived, who they were, what did they have, what did they do, how did they move, where were they, at what point in time, and so forth. And I read for 10 hours straight.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

Anthony and Jana did have one important clue. They had the address and of an art dealer in Berlin who had sold the painting, which ended up in the Brohan Museum. It was an address that looked strangely familiar.

[Anthony Easton]

I know exactly where I was. Little email pops in ping. And there was this email from Yana and she said, I have found all these properties that your grandmother owned. On one side of the screen I had Yana's email to me which listed these properties. And then on the other side of the screen, I had a letter from the museum saying, the art dealer, we know his address. And I just suddenly realized that there was the same street name and the same number was on both sides of my screen. I looked and I looked and I double checked and I double a bit like, I mean, it's not like winning the lottery, but you check your numbers. Yeah, until I was checking my numbers, I was checking the name. And actually now I can still feel it. I felt quite sick because I realized these were the same places.

[Jana Slavova]

It was the house at number 48.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

The document showed that the Eisenvalswerk, the painting that symbolized everything the Eisner family had built and lost, had been bought by the Brohan Museum from the house at number 48, the former home of Anthony's family. The next question was, who lived there and who sold it? So after you discovered that the painting was sold out of the house at number 48, how did you find out who lived there, who owned it?

[Jana Slavova]

So I look at the records again. I found out that there was this person called Martin Hartig. I was scanning everything with my phone and I just wanted to just keep everything on record. And then I saw Martin Hartig's name again. And then I saw it many, many times.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

Martin Hartig, the mysterious tax advisor you heard about in previous episodes. A man who took possession of the Eisner family's multimillion pound properties in Germany in 1938, but never gave them back.

[Jana Slavova]

In the records at the local court, I found that Martin Hartig's daughter inherited the house. Two of her children continued to live in the house. And they received the house as a gift from her in 2014, I think.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

So Martin Hartig's direct descendants continue to live in that property. The house at number 48. Yes. Written in the lines of Jana's documents was a partial answer to what happened to the Eisner family fortune. A large chunk of it had ended up with Martin Hartig, a man who had once described himself as their friend. He took possession of their house at number 48, a property worth millions of euros today. His children lived there, their children still live there. And one of his relatives sold the eisenhowersfurk painting, which now sits in the Brohan Museum. Three generations of Hartigs have benefited from the wealth Anthony's family had built.

[Anthony Easton]

I went past the building, I went past number 48 and I looked at the bell and I saw the family name was still on the bell. It took perspective shift.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

Wow.

[Anthony Easton]

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.

[Narrator (Charlie Northcote)]

Next time on the house at number 48, we track down the Hartig family and find out how much they know about the origins of their home. Thanks for listening to this episode. You can listen to the whole series right now. First on BBC Sounds.

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