Germany renews commitment to fair treatment of property looted by Nazis
New guidance on handling property stolen by Nazis provides clear guidelines for museums, archives and libraries.
Berlin (d.de/dpa) – Eighty years after the end of the Second World War, many Jewish families are still waiting for the return of artworks stolen during the period of Nazi rule. Germany’s federal government, state governments and local government associations have now produced a joint set of guidelines the handling of property stolen by the Nazis. The guidance is designed to make it even easier to identify and return items of cultural heritage which were misappropriated due to persecution.
In 1998, 44 countries signed up to the Washington Principles acknowledging their historical responsibilities, with Germany among the signatories. The principles require institutions which preserve public cultural heritage to investigate their collections. If they identify that an object was stolen by the Nazis, they are to find a just and fair solution with the victims of Nazi art theft and their descendants. Since then, over 7,700 works of art, 27,500 books and countless items of archival material in Germany have been returned to their rightful owners or their heirs, or other just and fair solutions have been found.
The newly revised guidance includes detailed advice and for the first time a list of key points of contact. It now also covers the institution for arbitration in cases of Nazi stolen property, which will start work on 1 December 2025.