Swiss Set Standards for Nazi-Looted Art

Since the end of World War II, the fate of art confiscated by the Nazis has been troubled.  In many cases, the derivation of recovered art is difficult to determine.  Moreover, it is not easy to find heirs to victims of Nazis, some of whom may not even be aware of an inheritance.  Additionally, what about victims who have no living heirs? Although the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi Confiscated Art was created to establish a new level of transparency in discovering the provenance of art works and making restitution, controversy over this artwork has continued. This issue has spurred debates and lawsuits that involve heirs, auction houses, art dealers and museums. 

A new standard for treating Nazi confiscated art is now coming from Switzerland.  This moved forward late last year when the Kunstmuseum Bern agreed to accept a bequest of a controversial collection of more than 1,000 works of art—a topic that I have previously discussed. 

The museum recently announced its intentions to commission a team of experts to investigate each piece of art, and return any looted art to its rightful owners.  This announcement has been deemed, “a possible game changer for the way cultural institutions handle this in the future,” and the decision could “set an example for other countries in Europe . . . This is an opportunity to say, ‘We haven’t always been upfront in the past, but here we are taking the moral lead.’”

See Swiss Create New Standards for Nazi-Looted Art, The Boston Globe, Jan. 12, 2015.