Committee Passes Legislation to Ensure Recovery of Art Stolen by Nazis

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) applauded the Senate Judiciary Committee’s approval of the bipartisan Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act (HEAR Act), legislation that would prevent claims to art stolen by Nazis during the Holocaust from being unfairly barred by statutes of limitation or other procedural hurdles. Booker is a co-sponsor of the bill, which passed the Judiciary Committee by a unanimous voice vote on Thurs.
“Our legal system should provide justice to those whose cultural property the Nazis so brazenly seized as part of their genocide against the Jewish people and other groups,” Sen. Booker said. “Existing statutes of limitation are being used to unfairly deny legitimate claims to stolen art, and demand victims of these crimes present a case based on virtually nonexistent records. The HEAR Act would create more reasonable requirements and facilitate the return of art wrongfully taken by the Nazis to the victims of the Holocaust and their families.”
The HEAR Act would:
• Ensure that claims to Nazi-confiscated art are not unfairly barred by procedural defenses, but are instead resolved on their merits.
• Create a new six-year statute of limitations for claims to recover art that was wrongfully taken because of racial, ethnic, or religious persecution by the Nazis or their allies during the period from January 1, 1933, to December 31, 1945.
• Create a limitations period that commences upon “actual discovery” of (1) the identity and location of the works of art that was taken, (2) the identity of the person or entity currently in possession of the artwork, and (3) information or facts sufficient to indicate that the claimant has a legitimate interest in the art.
Additional Background on the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act:
Under the Third Reich, the Nazis stole hundreds of thousands of artworks across Europe in what has been dubbed the “greatest displacement of art in human history.” At the close of World War II, the United States and allied nations sought to return this art to the appropriate countries of origin. However, many pieces of art were never reunited with their rightful owners.
In 1998, the United States convened a conference with 43 other nations, known as the Washington Conference. The participants declared that “steps should be taken expeditiously to achieve a just and fair solution” to claims involving art stolen by the Nazis. In 2009, 48 nations, including the United States, issued the Terezin Declaration, which urged the signatories “to ensure that their legal systems or alternative processes, while taking into account the different legal traditions, facilitate just and fair solutions with regard to Nazi-confiscated and looted art.” Despite these actions, the United States has not fulfilled its promise to ensure that claims to Nazi-confiscated art are resolved on their merits.
To fulfill America’s promises, the HEAR Act empowers claimants with the opportunity to have their cases decided on the merits by establishing a new statute of limitations within which claims can be filed.