It is an ongoing and tiresome process but it needs to be done… There is still so much Nazi looted artwork that has yet to be returned to the rightful owners and European museums do not seem to be helping speed the process up. While most officials claim they are trying to trace ownership of looted works, critics feel it is not a priority and museums are “dragging their feet” to keep their hands on more valuable pieces. Shocking stories like that of the Semmel family make the situation pretty clear… In the Netherlands, it was determined that three works currently in Dutch museums had been part of a distress sale when Richard Semmel was persecuted by the Nazis. The restitution commission, then refused to return two of the three works saying “the rights of Semmel’s heirs carried ‘less weight’ than those of the museums that currently own them.” Hmmm….
I’ll leave you with this quote from an anonymous French museum official… “If we give back the paintings, the families will only sell them, so why return national patrimony?” Classy stuff.
Art looted by the Nazis could be hiding in plain sight on the walls of Europe’s great museums