May 05, 2009
After two years of investigation, the Heast Castle in California returned two paintings to the family of Jakob and Rosa Oppenheimer. They were German Jews who were forced to sell paintings in a liquidation auction of their Berlin gallery.
This marks 25th restitution in the USA since the issue of Nazi looted art gained international recognition 10 years ago. 25 doesn’t seem like a very high number since the Dutch have settled approximately three times as many cases. However, in the UK, there have only been a handful of cases that have been settled.
Given the size of America, it would be logical to think that more cases would have been resolved by now. This could be due to a number of factors: cases take time to resolve, not many heirs have come forward, and the current owners could be reluctant to give them back. Instead of lising looted objects on websites, the USA could be more active in trying to find families and their heirs.
