The Blind Spot
Looted Art, Restitution, and the “Eastern Jews”
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The search for Jewish owned cultural assets stolen by the National Socialists starting in 1933 and the restitution of those assets to their rightful heirs has occupied politicians and those directly affected to this day. An exhibition at the Jewish Museums in Berlin and Frankfurt and a substantial companion volume Raub und Restitution are dedicated to the issue. But something is missing. The fate of the East European Jews goes unmentioned. This is representative of the shortcomings of research in this field and the continued existence of stereotypes and ignorance. The unwillingness of some countries in East Central Europe to accept their Jewish heritage and to address restitution seriously merely add to the problem. The art collectors Maksymilian Goldstein and Abe Gutnajer of L’viv (Lwów) and Warsaw are well suited as symbolic additions for closing this gap.
(Osteuropa 1/2009, pp. 69–82)