The Government today confirmed its backing for Andrew Dismore MP's Private Members’ Bill to allow national museums in England and Scotland to return items lost during the Nazi era (1933-1945) where the independent Spoliation Advisory Panel recommends return and Ministers agree.
The Government announced long ago its intention to legislate in this area and this Private Members’ Bill provides an opportunity to do so. The Bill is due to have its 3rd Reading and Report Stage in the Commons, where it was introduced, on Friday 26 June 2009.
The Spoliation Advisory Panel has today published its 9th Report, on eight drawings now in the collection of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. The Report concludes that, whilst the predominant reason for the sale of the drawings in 1933 by the owner, Professor Dr Curt Glaser, was Nazi oppression, the moral claim was insufficiently strong to warrant the transfer of the drawings. In reaching this conclusion, the Panel took account of the fact that the sale prices achieved at the time were reasonable and that Dr Glaser’s widow had received compensation from the German compensation authorities after the War.
The Panel recommended, however, that whenever any of the drawings is on show, the Courtauld should display alongside it a brief account of its history and provenance during and since the Nazi era, with special reference to the claimants’ relationship with, and historical interest in, the drawings.
Culture Minister, Barbara Follett said:
“It is important that the questions of ownership arising out of the terrible events of the Second World War are finally resolved, and that museums are allowed to return family treasures lost during the Nazi era. That is why the Government supports Andrew Dismore’s Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Bill which aims to remove the statutory restrictions that prevent our national museums from taking such items out of their collections. I hope that the Bill will continue to receive wide support during its passage through Parliament.”
http://www.dcms.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/6239.aspx