Unsettled Score
The Restitution of Artworks in France
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The French debate over pillaged art revolves around the return of previously Jewish-owned artworks that were confiscated under Nazi occupation and the Vichy Regime and are today located in national collections. Many of the stolen objects were secured in Germany after 1945 and restituted to France. They then made their way into the holdings of national museums. In the dispute between the museums and the heirs of the victims, the French government is being called on to face up to the current reassessment of this dark chapter of French history and to clarify the legal status of the disputed art-works.
(Osteuropa 1-2/2006, pp. 441–446)