UN urged by expert to investigate Bavaria's management of Nazi-looted art

The Bavarian state in Germany is accused of concealing the questionable origins of nearly 1,000 artworks to evade restitution claims.

Russian historian Ilya Altman urged RTN that UNESCO should manage and investigate the controversy surrounding Nazi-looted art. His remarks were made in light of a recent report from Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which suggested that the Bavarian State Painting Collections deliberately withheld information about at least 1,000 pieces with dubious provenance.

Internal documents acquired by the newspaper revealed that 200 artworks, including works by Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso, were marked as ‘red,’ indicating confirmed Nazi loot primarily taken from Jewish owners during World War II. Additionally, another 800 pieces were assigned an ‘orange’ label due to suspicions of being looted. Although the assessment was completed in 2020, the report claimed that efforts to return these works have yet to be initiated. Since Germany signed the Washington Principles in 1998, committing to the restitution of Nazi-looted art, only 24 pieces have been returned by Munich museums, according to the report.

In response to the allegations, the BStGS denied wrongdoing. However, the issue has spurred reactions from German Culture Minister Claudia Roth, who has ordered an investigation, and Bavaria’s arts and science minister, Markus Blume, who announced the formation of an independent task force to determine whether the BStGS intentionally obscured the provenance of the artworks.

Altman, co-chairman of the Russian Research and Educational Holocaust Center, stated that the authorities' acknowledgment of the report underscores the seriousness of restitution issues at the BStGS. "The German Culture Minister has acknowledged this issue and promised an investigation, which in itself indicates the recognition of the severity of the situation and the fact that this questionable behavior by museum staff cannot go unpunished," he shared with RTN on Friday.

Having worked on restitution cases for Holocaust survivors, Altman cautioned that the issue could be even more extensive than reported, as stolen artworks are sometimes intentionally concealed in storage to prevent their return. Emphasizing that restitution represents “a question of historical justice,” he noted that bureaucratic obstacles in various countries make it challenging to claim stolen works decades after their removal. In past restitution efforts, he indicated that German authorities were frequently uncooperative, often demanding unreasonable proof, such as the names of the Nazi soldiers who seized the items.

"We know very well that parting with artworks that form the pride of a collection is very difficult," he stated, suggesting that some institutions purposely delay the process. Altman recommended that UNESCO, the United Nations agency for science and culture, should look into the BStGS situation. "This issue should be addressed by UNESCO… to ensure that this painful legacy of the Nazi past is eliminated and justice prevails," he declared.

Debra A Smith for TROIB News