Germany should introduce a law specifically aimed at facilitating the return of Nazi-looted art, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder told a packed audience at the Documentation Center ‘Topographie des Terrors’ in Berlin on Thursday, following his meetings with senior German government ministers. Lauder was the keynote speaker at an event hosted by Andreas Nachama, the director of the Documentation Center, and Julius H. Schoeps, the head of the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European and Jewish Studies at Potsdam University.
Lauder said there were still thousands of artworks in the hands of individuals and museums that were stolen from Jews by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. He added that Germany was not legally equipped to handle such cases. "One of the main reasons that these problems still exist is that there is no law in Germany that addresses the restitution of looted art," Lauder to the audience, which included a number of experts in the field, among them Ingeborg Berggreen-Merkel, the head of the Gurlitt Task Force, and Jutta Limbach, chair of the Limbach Commission which gives non-binding recommendations on the issue of looted art.
Lauder noted that Germany had already negotiated compensation on "the difficult issues of slave labor, stolen bank deposits and insurance policies".
"I encourage Germany to deal with Nazi-looted art in the same comprehensive manner," he said, calling the works "the last prisoners of World War II".
Lauder said he pressed this point in talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Justice Minister Heiko Maas. The onus should be on museums, not the victims of Nazi plundering, to search their collections for stolen works and track down their rightful owners.
"Austria has done this. France and Holland have made steps in this direction and the UK has a commission that is available to examine claims and advise the government on restitution," he said. "But this is Germany, where the crime began. More is required."
The WJC president called on Germany to eliminate its 30-year statute of limitations on stolen property cases, a major stumbling block in many restitution cases since World War II ended almost 70 years ago. He also urged the establishment of an international commission that would research and help return the artworks to families of the original owners.
Download the text of Ronald Lauder's speech here (PDF file)
German version of the speech as published by 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'.
Photos: Detlev Schilke
