Within 25 years
Almost 32,000 pieces of Nazi-looted art returned
09/05/2023, 8:35 p.m
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Germany is returning thousands of cultural treasures stolen by Nazis over the past two decades, but debate over victims’ rights continues. Minister of State for Culture Rainer Robra emphasizes the need to intensify the search for Nazi-looted art.
In the past 25 years, Germany has returned tens of thousands of cultural assets and books stolen by the Nazis to the heirs of their former owners. As Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister of State for Culture Rainer Robra from the CDU has now announced, since 1998 more than 7,455 cultural assets in the museum sector and over 24,700 books and other library items have been returned. In addition, there is a quantity of archival material that is difficult to quantify. The German Lost Art Foundation is located in Magdeburg and deals with the return of Nazi-looted art.
The total number of restitutions is certainly higher because not all resolved cases are made public, Robra said. Despite the positive balance, the politician emphasized that efforts to identify art looted by the Nazis had to be further intensified. The federal, state and local governments agree that the rights of descendants of Nazi victims should be further strengthened.
However, Robra criticized the fact that the commission set up by the federal, state and local umbrella organizations to mediate differences between those involved about the return of Nazi-looted art had already made its own proposals for reforming the procedure on Monday.
“In the interest of the matter, I would have welcomed it if there had been talks between all those involved in advance in order to develop a viable common position,” said Robra. In 1998, the “Washington Declaration” was passed, with which numerous states committed themselves to investigating the crimes of Nazi art theft and finding solutions for the victims.