Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art | |
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Presented | 3 December 1998 |
Author(s) | Stuart E. Eizenstat |
Subject | Nazi plunder |
Purpose | Restitution of confiscated artworks |
The Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, formally the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art and sometimes referred to as the Washington Declaration, is a statement concerning the restitution of art confiscated by the Nazi regime in Germany before and during World War II. [1] It was released in connection with the Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets, held in Washington, D.C., United States, on 3 December 1998. [1]
The conference was hosted by the United States Department of State and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. [2] It assembled participants from a 1995 New York symposium, The Spoils of War—World War II and Its Aftermath: The Loss, Reappearance, and Recovery of Cultural Property, along with others, [2] and built on the Nazi Gold conference which had been held in London in December 1997. [2]
The conference was held from November 30 to December 3, 1998 and was attended by representatives of 44 countries and 13 nongovernmental organizations, art museums and auction houses. [3]
The 1998 conference's aim was to discuss Jewish losses in particular, including artworks, books, and archives, as well as insurance claims and other types of assets. [2] 44 governments, including Germany, sent delegates, [4] as did thirteen international non-governmental organizations. [2] The conference organizer was the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, Stuart E. Eizenstat, [2] who had previously been United States Ambassador to the European Union, [5] and its chairman was Judge Abner Mikva. [4] U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright gave the opening address. [6]
The statement includes eleven numbered principles, prefixed: [1]
In developing a consensus on non-binding principles to assist in resolving issues relating to Nazi-confiscated art, the Conference recognizes that among participating nations there are differing legal systems and that countries act within the context of their own laws.
The principles are: [1]
The Principles were outlined by Eizenstat, along with "Declarations of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research." [2] He also gave a statement at the conference, titled In Support of Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, saying: [7]
Several weeks ago, we prepared a discussion paper of 11 general principles, which was used as the basis of extensive consultations and which all of you have today. These principles are not, in themselves, a solution. They are a means by which nations can fashion their own solutions consistent with their own legal systems. The principles try to capture the spirit of this conference for nations engaging in this task. If these principles are properly applied, the discovery of Nazi-confiscated art will no longer be a matter of chance. Instead, there will be an organized international effort -- voluntary in nature but backed by a strong moral commitment -- to search provenance and uncover stolen art. This effort will be undertaken by governments, NGOs, museums, auctioneers and dealers.
In March 2024, new guidelines were announced to clarify points notably about the meaning of "just and fair" and the inclusion of duress sales in "Nazi-looted" art: [8]
The United States State Department published the full list of new guidelines for Nazi looted art on its website, Best Practices for the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. [9]
Stuart Elliott Eizenstat is an American diplomat and attorney. He served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 1993 to 1996 and as the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001. For many years, and currently he has served as a partner and Senior Counsel at the Washington, D.C.–based law firm Covington & Burling and as a senior strategist at APCO Worldwide.
Nazi plunder was organized stealing of art and other items which occurred as a result of the organized looting of European countries during the time of the Nazi Party in Germany.
Wolfgang Gurlitt was a German art dealer, museum director and publisher whose art collection included Nazi-looted art.
The World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks was launched in 1995 to retrieve deposits made into the three largest Swiss banks by victims of Nazi persecution during and prior to World War II. WJC negotiations were initiated with the Government of Switzerland and Swiss banks, and later expanded to cover Swiss insurance companies, over burdensome proof-of-ownership requirements for accounts and insurance policies. Strong support from both federal and state United States politicians and officials, threats of sanctions against the three Swiss banks, as well as leaked documents from a bank guard pressured a settlement of the suit in 1998 in a U.S. court for multiple classes of people affected by government and banking practices. The Swiss government itself was not a signatory to the deal. As of early 2020, US$1.29 billion has been disbursed to approximately 458,400 claimants.
The Hungarian Gold Train was the German-operated train during World War II that carried stolen valuables, mostly Hungarian Jews' property, from Hungary towards Berlin in 1945. After American forces seized and looted the train in Austria, almost none of the valuables were returned to Hungary, their rightful owners, or their surviving family members.
The Bavarian State Painting Collections, based in Munich, Germany, oversees artwork held by the Free State of Bavaria. It was established in 1799 as Centralgemäldegaleriedirektion. Artwork includes paintings, sculptures, photographs, video art and installation art. Pieces are on display in numerous galleries and museums throughout Bavaria.
Alfred Flechtheim was a German Jewish art dealer, art collector, journalist and publisher persecuted by the Nazis.
The Spoliation Advisory Panel advises the United Kingdom Government on claims for cultural property looted during the Nazi era.
The London Conference on Nazi Gold was an international conference held in London in December 1997. Representatives of 41 nations participated in the Conference, including France, the United Kingdom, the United States, the three countries from the World War II Allies that fought Nazi Germany and the Axis powers that oversaw the post-War disposition of Nazi gold.
The Gurlitt Collection was a collection of around 1,500 art works assembled by Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of one of Hitler's official art dealers, Hildebrand Gurlitt (1895–1956), and which was found to have contained several artworks looted from Jews by the Nazis.
The Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste, also known as the Koordinierungsstelle Magdeburg, is an institution of the German federal and state governments at the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Culture and is the central German institution for the documentation of lost and found cultural assets looted by the Nazis. Established in 2001, the Koordinierungsstelle's Lost Art Database documents and publishes lost and found reports by institutions and private individuals. It operates on a cooperative basis with the international Art Loss Register.
Bernhard Altmann (1888–1960) was an Austrian textile manufacturer whose business was stolen and whose family's art collection was looted by Nazis because of their Jewish origins. He introduced cashmere wool to North America on a mass scale in 1947.
"The Spoils of War—World War II and Its Aftermath: The Loss, Reappearance, and Recovery of Cultural Property" was an international symposium held in New York City in 1995 to discuss the artworks, cultural property, and historic sites damaged, lost, and plundered as a result of World War II. The three-day event was sponsored by the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. The conference was organized by Elizabeth Simpson, an archaeologist and professor at the Bard Graduate Center.
The Terezin Declaration is a non-binding declaration that issued by 47 countries in June 2009, agreeing on measures to right economic wrongs that accompanied the Holocaust against the Jews and other victims of Nazi persecution in Europe. It is neither a treaty nor legally binding international agreement The Holocaust Era Assets Conference took place in Terezín, Czech Republic, the site of the Theresienstadt Ghetto. A year later 43 of the signatories endorsed a companion document, the 2010 Guidelines and Best Practices for the Restitution and Compensation of Immovable (Real) Property, which set best practices for immovable property. According to the guidelines restitution of the property itself is preferred, however when that is not possible payment or substitute property that is "genuinely fair and adequate" is possible. The declaration has no legal power and does not define how countries involved should act to fulfill it.
Many priceless artworks by the Dutch post-impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh were looted by Nazis during 1933–1945, mostly from Jewish collectors forced into exile or murdered.
The art collection of Ismar Littmann (1878–1934), a German lawyer who lived in Breslau, comprised 347 paintings and watercolors and 5,814 drawings from artists such as Lovis Corinth, Max Pechstein, Erich Heckel, Max Liebermann, Käthe Kollwitz, Lucien Adrion, and Otto Mueller.
L. Behrens & Söhne was a Hamburg private bank and trading company.
Gustav Kirstein was a German publisher, writer, and art collector of Jewish descent.
Concealed Histories: Uncovering the Story of Nazi Looting was an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London that ran from December 2019 until July 2021. It was the first Nazi-era provenance exhibition by a UK national museum.