A group of Holocaust survivors and their families notched a crucial victory on Friday, as Congress approved legislation that would make it easier to reclaim art confiscated during World War II.
The unanimous vote — which came during a late-night session as the Senate worked to pass a spending bill to avert a government shutdown and wrap up its business for the year — was the culmination of a bipartisan effort to help victims whose art was taken by the Nazis and their allies. The House passed the bill on Wednesday.
Should President Obama sign it into law, as expected, the measure would loosen, and standardize across the country, the statute of limitations on claims for the return of looted art. Survivors and their families would have six years to make a claim after identifying pieces taken from them and proving their right to them.
The legislation is considered a critical tool as Holocaust survivors and their heirs have faced a bureaucratic and legal tangle of governments, museums and collectors to recover art taken from them more than 70 years ago. In many cases, the works are now in museums or private collections, complicating the fight over ownership.
In several cases, claims have been blocked on a technicality, as statutes of limitations have prevented the victims of decades-old thefts from reclaiming their property — despite having only recently located the stolen art.
Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress and an advocate in the fight to recover looted art, said that, under the bill, future claims would be more likely to be judged on their merits.
“This important legislation will allow those seeking to recover art and other heritage stolen by the Nazis a fair opportunity to have their cases judged on the facts, rather than be undercut by legal technicalities,” he said in a statement.
A treaty signed by 44 countries in 1998, known as the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, urged an expeditious “just and fair solution” to what advocates have described as an ongoing injustice to an already grievously wronged group. But that agreement did not have the force of law.
Some legal experts had pointed out that the new legislation has some deficiencies, particularly that it does not ensure restitution. But supporters cheered that it would make it easier to make claims in American courts.
The quest for justice for Holocaust survivors united lawmakers from both parties in a remarkably combative election year. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the incoming Democratic leader, and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican and former presidential candidate, teamed up on the bill, along with other colleagues.
“Artwork lost during the Holocaust is not just property,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican and another backer of the bill. “To many victims and their families, it is a reminder of the vanished world of their families.”
Originally published HERE
