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World Jewish News
Holland to Return Illegally Acquired Artwork to Jews
07.01.2009
Dutch museums are beginning large-scale work on returning the objects of art which were sold for nothing by the Jews who were fleeing from the Netherlands before World War II.
According to the Director of Netherlands Museum Association Siebe Weide, in the years 1933 - 1940, as well as in the war years, the Jewish families who wanted to leave the Netherlands for good had to either sell the works of are belonging to them, or simply leave them behind.
"The museums acquired such works honestly, as they usually did not know their real origins. However, now museums are responsible for finding out the origins," he said.
Weide said that within the next four years more than 440 museums of the Association will find out whether their collections contain artwork illegally acquired from the Jewish citizens after the year 1933.
Not only major state museums, but also the provincial and many private ones are participating in the project.
In 2013 the Dutch museums will publish a list of works of art, concerning which there are doubts as towards the legality of their origin, leaving the option for the original owners to put in claims.
The research of the origins is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. Until recently, a special agency used to deal with this issue, but only the period from 1940 to 1948 was investigated. Weide believes the investigation of origins will not cause a rapid increase in the number of claims from the former owners' relatives.
The Head of the special agency Rudi Ekkart is also not afraid that Dutch state museums will have to give away a considerable part of their collections.
"We already conducted similar research for the years 1940 – 1948, and the collections were not hurt," he noted. "After 1933 the Dutch state had no money to purchase artwork. That is why if claims on some objects appear, they will be addressed to private collectors mostly."
According to Ekkart, the Dutch museums want to "close the chapter of military art history" as soon as possible.
"But this will be possible only when they do their best to restitute the illegally acquired objects," he underscored.
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