The Claims Conference And The Zentralrat Are Working Together For A Comprehensive Looted Art Solution In Germany

NEW YORK, NEW YORK: OCTOBER 9, 2024 — Today, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) announced the first steps towards a comprehensive looted art restitution law in Germany.

After nearly 80 years without a fair avenue for Holocaust survivors, victim families and heirs to claim cultural property in Germany, the German Federal Ministry of Culture (BKM), the States and Local Governments have agreed to create a new process to fix the deeply flawed system. Previously, both parties had to agree to go to an advisory commission for looted Art.  Now state-owned museums will be required to participate in an arbitration process when no agreement between the victims’ side and museums can be found. The decisions of the arbitration body will be binding. Judges for the arbitration body will be assigned in parity between German governmental levels, the Claims Conference and the Central Council of Jews in Germany (Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland).

Gideon Taylor, President of the Claims Conference said, “We’re grateful to Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Claudia Roth and her team. and applaud the decision by the federal, state and local governments to reorganize the way they deal with the looted art restitution claims of survivors of the Shoah and their descendants. Across Europe Nazis stripped Jews of their cultural assets — this systematic theft of art was part of the Holocaust. Today, Germany is signaling to the world that it wants to come to terms with this part of its history. The next critical step is a restitution law that will overcome existing legal hurdles faced by claimants so that survivors and their families will have access to a fair and just process as envisioned by the internationally recognized Washington Principles on Looted Nazi Era Art.”

The Executive Vice-President of the Claims Conference, Greg Schneider, stated, “The decision made by the German government today is a significant first step for survivors, families and heirs worldwide to assert their looted art restitution claims. Until today, the obstacles for looted cultural property were against the survivors, families and heirs. This  gives them  the ability to deal with what was stolen 80 years ago and kept from their families. But now the second step – of implementing a looted art restitution law must occur to ensure a measure of justice.”

“Almost 80 years after the end of the Second World War, the decision by the BKM, states and the local governments in favor of arbitration marks a strong step towards a comprehensive restitution law,” says Rüdiger Mahlo, the Claims Conference’s Representative in Europe. The Claims Conference has been advocating for the restitution and compensation for Holocaust survivors since it was founded in 1951. The organization was involved in the preparatory negotiations between the federal government, the federal states and the municipalities regarding a reorganization of the previous restitution practice.

The outcome of the negotiations is a break-through for the survivors’ access to fair and just solutions by allowing for the following: The resolution frees the victims’ families from their position as petitioners by enabling unilateral recourse to the arbitration tribunal, providing for the facilitation of evidence, granting its decisions binding force and providing for equal representation in the arbitration tribunal. This repositioning of the public sector’s restitution policy must now prove itself for the surviving victims of Nazi cultural theft and their descendants.

However, Mahlo also emphasizes that key aspects such as the statute of limitation and the acquisitive prescription (the ability of an owner to obtain good title to looted art by merely having ownership for more than 10 years ) continue to block restitution: “For us, a restitution law remains the goal. Only on the grounds of a federal law comprehensive justice and legal certainty can be achieved. And it is only on the grounds of a federal law that victims’ families will have the chance to assert their claim for the restitution of their cultural property held in private hands, for example by foundations, insurance companies or banks.” 

About the Claims Conference:  The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), a nonprofit organization with offices in New York, Israel, Germany and Austria, secures material compensation for Holocaust survivors around the world. Founded in 1951 by representatives of 23 major international Jewish organizations, the Claims Conference negotiates for and disburses funds to individuals and organizations and seeks the return of Jewish property stolen during the Holocaust. As a result of negotiations with the Claims Conference since 1952, the German government has paid more than $90 billion in indemnification to individuals for suffering and losses resulting from persecution by the Nazis. In 2024, the Claims Conference will distribute over $535 million in compensation to over 200,000 survivors in 83 countries and allocate over $888 million in grants to over 300 social service agencies worldwide that provide vital services for Holocaust survivors, such as home care, food and medicine.

For more information, please visit: www.claimscon.org