Perspectives on the Restitution of Art Stolen by the National Socialists
The Washington Declaration was adopted 25 years ago: December 3, 1998. This declaration committed 44 countries to identifying works of art confiscated during the National Socialist era, locating their owners or heirs and finding a “just and fair solution.” Germany has returned tens of thousands of stolen cultural assets over the past 25 years.
Nevertheless, there is still a lot to do: the "Law without Law" project at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) is assessing current restitution procedures. The results of this research are not only being published, but are also being integrated into regular university education to ensure the long-term awareness among those involved in the field. But how do the descendants of former owners of stolen art feel about current developments? In two interviews, combined here into one, we track down the history of a photo.
Prof. Dr. Benjamin Lahusen holds the Chair of Civil Law and Modern Legal History and is head of the project “Law without Law” at the European University Viadrina. He was managing director of the “Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property” from 2020 to 2023.
Prof. Dr. Atina Grossmann teaches history at Cooper Union College in New York City. Her family’s biography is still strongly influenced by the period of National Socialist persecution: exile, deportation, murder, the seizure of real estate and art assets and the ongoing questions of how to deal with restitution matters. Her father worked as a restitution lawyer – she has researched and published extensively on this subject as a historian.
Mr. Lahusen, there was a very special moment during a conference on your project at the end of 2023 at the European University Viadrina: a family photo from 1938, which Atina Grossmann, an American historian, showed in the context of her presentation. Can you describe your mood at that time?
Lahusen: It was a very unexpected, impressive moment for me. Combined with a great sadness about the loss, about saying goodbye at a supposedly everyday get-together at the dinner table. National Socialist Germany destroyed an entire era, and this is captured in an unimpressive and yet so complex photo.
Ms. Grossmann, in November 2023 you took part in a conference at the European University Viadrina. The organizer Prof. Lahusen remembers the moment when you showed a family photo there. What can be seen in this photo?
Grossmann: It’s the last time my family was together at the dinner table at home. In 1938, at Fasanenstraße 2 in Berlin, in the year of the Reichspogromnacht. The family members pictured there either had to flee or, like my grandmother, were murdered in Auschwitz. But not before they were forced to sell their Astoria house at a price far below market value. At the time, my father Hans was already working as a lawyer in Tehran and had returned to Berlin to provide legal support, risking his life, but in vain. My grandmother has been commemorated with a stumbling stone on site for several years now. Stumbling stones are wonderful, but not enough, they are no more than a start.
What should be the aim of returning works of art?
Lahusen: Today, the restitution process is much more the focus of debate than the stories of those affected. I would like us as a society to show a little more generosity and humility – in other words, to extend a hand instead of anticipating the agonistic expectation that someone from outside is coming to take something away. In doing so, we would be fulfilling our historical ambition.
Grossmann: Instead of large ceremonies, information about past injustices should be provided visibly and in detail on site, at the many places where crimes were carried out, in such a way that responsibility is honestly admitted. Extensive transparency and visibility are the basis of a true culture of remembrance. Then everyone can form their own opinion, including today’s participants in conferences in the house that once belonged to my family.
This also concerns art and cultural assets, in our case a painting by Lovis Corinth, which is now in the possession of the Berlin City Museum. The “Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property” has spoken out against the museum handing over the 1907 portrait of the theater critic Alfred Kerr by Lovis Corinth to the heirs of the previous Jewish owner, Robert Graetz. Graetz had acquired the painting from Leo Nachtlicht, my great-uncle on my mother’s side. But I, as Nachtlicht’s heir, have decided against another lawsuit.
There are also possibilities beyond the physical restitution, but again, the works must be shown and contextualized in detail in a way that is generally accessible. And I would be happy to organize an exemplary workshop with the Berlin City Museum.
How could a renewed process of restitution of art looted by the National Socialists be structured?
Lahusen: Still lacking is the broad social visibility and discussion of the issue, as has been achieved elsewhere through truth commissions, for example, which can also have a transgenerational effect.
On a smaller scale, pro bono consultations through legal initiatives such as a law clinic could support those affected. Or we could strengthen citizen science commitment at all levels of society – because the question of how to deal with art looted by the National Socialists is not a purely legal one, especially as the topic plays no role at all in studying law. We need to enter into a conversation with society as a whole, be honest and see the restitution of cultural assets as a catharsis alongside material compensation. Only then can the claim “Never again” be fulfilled. The more public this process is, the better. The immediacy and concrete fates behind the looted art objects are the key, closely embedded in public global provenance research.
The interviews were conducted by Regina Fuhrmann, EVZ Foundation.
The final report of the “Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property” states: “In the overall assessment,” it was decided that the work should not be restituted. However, the painting is linked “in a saddening way” to four fates of persecution. “The families of Alfred Kerr, Leo Nachtlicht, Robert Graetz and Gertrud Kahle were all victims of National Socialist persecution.” “They were oppressed, robbed, deported, forced to flee or murdered.”
The Commission recommended that the Berlin City Museum pay tribute to this provenance “in an appropriate manner” when dealing with the portrait in the future.
