The Tugendhats do not like the criticism of the sale of the sculpture, as it is supposedly unrelated to the villa

Brno - The Tugendhat family refutes doubts about their true intentions in their effort to acquire the Brno villa Tugendhat. Critical voices have emerged regarding them after the family auctioned a statue titled Torso of a Walking Woman, which was originally in the Brno villa, for 42 million crowns. However, the sale of the statue is not related to the restitution claims on the villa, the descendants of the Tugendhats communicated to ČTK today.
  The Tugendhat siblings, children of the original owners, received artistic items from the villa based on the law on alleviating some injustices caused by the Holocaust. The auctioned statue by Wilhelm Lehmbruck was in the possession of the Moravian Gallery in Brno until 2006. Representatives of the city of Brno and gallery representatives, who are now negotiating with the family about the transfer of the entire Tugendhat villa, were surprised that the family sold the statue. The family reportedly requested the statue, explaining that they have very strong emotional ties to it. "They want to have it at home as a family heirloom," the gallery director Marek Pokorný conveyed the Tugendhats' position in November.
  "The statue hasn't been in the villa for several decades. It wasn't displayed in the Moravian Gallery either, so the public had no access to it at all," stated today's statement signed by siblings Daniela Hammer, Ruth Guggenheim, and Ernst Tugendhat. Furthermore, Brno's plans for the villa's reconstruction never counted on the placement of the original statue or furniture. The returned furniture is still in the gallery.
  The auction of the Lehmbruck sculpture surprised some members of the Brno council. "It raises doubts about how serious the Tugendhats are about restoring the villa to its original condition," Mayor Roman Onderka (ČSSD) told Mladá fronta Dnes. One of the daughters of the original owners, Daniela Hammer Tugendhatová, told the newspaper that the family registered the statue for auction before they requested the villa's return.
  Critical opinions about the Tugendhats are starting to emerge in Brno. According to councilor Daniel Rychnovský (KDU-ČSL), for instance, they lack a plan on how to finance the restoration and operation of the villa. The proceeds from admission fees supposedly cannot cover the costs. Former mayor and MEP Petr Duchoň (ODS) stated that the city should not give up the villa at all.
  However, the sale of the statue, according to the Tugendhat family’s statements, has not changed their intention to make the villa accessible to the public. The proceeds from the auction should, in case of a positive resolution of the restitution claims, partially serve to restore the villa as well. The original furniture that the family has already obtained could also reappear in the villa.