- Title: ISRAEL: Israel searches for Nazi-looted art in its museums
- Date: 9th January 2014
- Summary: PETAH TIKVA, ISRAEL (JANUARY 9, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MEETING OF COMPANY FOR LOCATION AND RESTITUTION OF HOLOCAUST VICTIMS' ASSETS AND ISRAELI MUSEUMS REPRESENTATIVES (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF COMPANY FOR LOCATION AND RESTITUTION OF HOLOCAUST VICTIMS' ASSETS, ISRAEL PELEG, SAYING: "We know that after the war at least 400 pieces of art paintings reached the sh
- Embargoed: 24th January 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Arts,History
- Reuters ID: LVA88BKNDUUXWP02L4F49QNJWM40
- Story Text: An Israeli authority tasked with tracking down unclaimed assets in Israel of Jews killed in the Holocaust pressed local museums on Thursday (January 9) to search their collections for works of art looted by the Nazis.
At its offices near Tel Aviv, the state-established Company for Location and Restitution of Holocaust Victims' Assets convened representatives of Israel's major museums for a first round-table discussion on the latest search effort.
"We know that after the war at least 400 pieces of art paintings reached the shores of Israel," the authority's director, Israel Peleg, told Reuters. "We believe that the research, the provenance research, should be done now by all the museums in Israel."
International conventions signed in the past 15 years, he said, obligated countries to allocate resources to try to identify and publicise works of art confiscated by the Nazis.
"The idea of starting now this effort is a breakthrough in the effort to return to the rightful heirs of the Holocaust victims the pieces of art which belong to their families," Peleg added.
At Thursday's meeting, Wesley Fisher, director of research for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which negotiates for restitution of Jewish-owned property, welcomed the new Israeli effort.
"As we do our work in the Claims Conference ... we very often find that in regard to art works, Judaica, libraries and manuscripts, we cannot reach closure on what went where and find everything without knowing what went to Israel," he said.
"The one museum that has done provenance research and has made it public is, of course, the Israel Museum. But the Israel Museum also has more work to do and there is a question in regard to other museums as well," Fisher said.
The country's largest museum -- the Israel Museum in Jerusalem -- said it was already proactive in this field.
It is official custodian to some 1,200 pieces of art stolen during World War Two and shipped to Israel for safekeeping when the Jewish owners could not be found. Ten of the pieces have since been handed over to the rightful families, and all the artwork is catalogued and on its website www.imj.org.il.
James Snyder, director of the Israel Museum, said his institution needed to take a leading role on the matter. "The Israel Museum, because we're in Israel, we feel that we need to be exemplary in the subject of restitution of art lost in World War II."
"Throughout our history, but certainly in the last 15 years we really have tried to take a role, trying to be exemplary in our handling of the subject," he added.
The issue of Holocaust victims' unclaimed assets in Israel made headlines three years ago when one of its major banks, Leumi, agreed to pay 130 million shekels ($37 million) to survivors and heirs for funds deposited before World War Two by Jews who later died in the conflict. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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