The head of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) on Monday welcomed the announcement by the Kunstmuseum Bern to accept the bequest of the late Cornelius Gurlitt under the condition that Nazi-looted art works are excluded and the entire collection undergoes proper checks.
“In my view, it is the right decision by Bern to refuse the toxic part of this collection, which was put together by one of the Nazis’ leading art dealers, at the detriment of Jews, of German museums, and of many other people,” said WJC President Ronald S. Lauder. He added: “We now need an immediate publication of all art works left behind by Gurlitt, and we need full transparency in the process of checking their provenance. Nothing should be sent to Bern before it hasn’t been properly checked.”
“I thank Germany for living up to its responsibility by ensuring that all issues relating to the looted art of the Gurlitt collection will be settled in Germany, and in Germany only”, the WJC President stressed. “Germany has been the country where the looting took place and it, rightly, should be the place of resolution, too. All looted art must be returned to the rightful owners or their heirs. If it is unclaimed, it should be sold at auction for the benefit of Holocaust victims. We appreciate that all parties have made it clear that no picture that is under a cloud of suspicion will go to Bern,”
Lauder, who is also founder and chairman of the Commission for Art Recovery, declared, adding: “It is critical that all art works left behind by Cornelius Gurlitt can be seen by the public before anything goes to Switzerland.”
Lauder welcomed the announcement that Germany will publish a list of all art works in the Gurlitt trove in the coming days: “This announcement has been overdue, and no further time must now be lost.” He also expressed support for the decision to let the Gurlitt task force finish its work but called for “greater transparency and accountability by publishing all decisions taken by the task force without hiding behind data-protection considerations.”
He also urged museums to conduct a thorough check of their own holdings with respect to looted art. “The Washington Principles must be applied rigorously, and by all parties concerned. It is not acceptable that so many public and private institutions still ignore them, despite being signed up to them,” Lauder said, referring to the 1998 Washington Declaration on looted art.
'Entartete Kunst'
Ronald Lauder also welcomed the decision to loan works of ‘degenerate art’ (Entartete Kunst) primarily to the museums from which they were taken during the Third Reich, but strongly urged to condition these loans on a firm commitment to the Washington Principles by the recipient institutions.
The Jewish leader praised the Kunstmuseum Bern’s announcement to use the proceeds from the ‘non-toxic’ part of the Gurlitt bequest to accelerate provenance research. “By accepting this bequest, the Kunstmuseum has taken over a huge responsibility. During the Nazi era, Switzerland was an important trading place for looted art, and until now, many Swiss museums have been reluctant to address that dark part of their history. Bern can now prove that its actions are beyond reproach.”
Lauder renewed his call on Germany and Switzerland to adopt clear restitution laws, to ensure the inclusion of Jewish organizations in this process, and to hold their museums to account regarding obligations for transparency under the Washington Declaration. “Instead of legal nitpicking, we need moral clarity and a commitment to right past wrong-doing,” he pointed out.