De Erfgenaam - Season 5 (2026)

This time, it is not about a monetary inheritance, but about an emotional painting that must find its way back to the surviving relatives. It concerns a still life by the German painter O.H. Schielde, which was in the possession of a Jewish family during the war. At the time, the artwork was placed in the custody of the son of a liaison officer who knew the Schaap family personally. Now, eighty years later, this son wants to return the painting to one of the surviving relatives of the Schaap family. Thus begins for Ruben a moving quest to reunite this special heirloom with its rightful heirs.

This episode begins in Madrid, where Rosa played outside in the 1920s. It concerns ninety year old Rosa Moreno Barranco from Voorburg, who leaves behind an inheritance of over sixteen thousand euros. It is Ruben's task to investigate to whom this substantial sum would be bestowed. This journey takes Joanne and Ruben she helps him through the dark period of Franco’s regime in Spain due to the Spanish language and ultimately brings me to a final destination in France.

Willem from The Hague, who snaps up antiques in thrift stores, has a friendship card in his hands. Ruben takes the framed card and begins his search for an heir to Marianne von Gutmann von Ferstel. He starts at the Center for Family History, where he discovers that Marianne was born in Vienna in 1898 and died in Blaricum in 1986. Her husband died in Canada, after which she moved to Blaricum. Ruben finds out that Marianne was a noblewoman and that her husband, Rudolf von Guttman, held the title of knight and possessed a large art collection. They had no biological children together, and the two stepchildren were not official heirs. Eventually, the search leads to Marianne's second cousin, Andreas Treichl, with whom an appointment is arranged in Vienna. Due to lack of time, Willem travels to Vienna alone with the card, where he meets Andreas. Ruben follows the conversation via video link and explains how the search ended with Treichl.

It concerns a ring from the war, which came into her possession through her family on Liberation Day. The ring belonged to Harry Joseph Platt, and Ruben wants to find one of his relatives so that the ring can be returned to its rightful owner. But things turn out completely differently than expected: Harry's family suspects it is a scam or fraud. And so, the ring remains with its current owner. In the second case, we start in Brussels. Artist Harry Wiggers has nearly €50,000 in his coffers, but he had no children. Perhaps Harry had brothers or stepbrothers. There is a half-sister named Monique, but she has passed away. Now the trail goes cold. Harry Wiggers was part of the Cobra art group, and perhaps this will lead us to someone entitled to his inheritance. Ruben eventually finds a second cousin of Harry on his mother's side, who receives one-eighth of the inheritance.