Federal, state and local governments improve restitution practice in Germany and increase inclusion of victims and their descendants

Today in Berlin at the 21st high-level cultural policy meeting, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Claudia Roth, the culture ministers and senators of the federal states (Länder) and representatives of local governments agreed on the basic principles for establishing joint arbitration for Nazi-looted cultural property.

Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and the Media: “Today’s agreement means that we are improving the implementation of the Washington Principles in Germany and applying important points from the best practices published in March 2024. Above all, we are strengthening the inclusion of victims of Nazi looting and their descendants in the decision-making body and enabling claimants of cultural property to make appeals without needing the consent of government institutions. This will make the restitution of Nazi-looted cultural property better, simpler and faster.

“We have broken new ground with today’s agreement. Here I would particularly like to thank the federal states and the chair of the Standing Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder, Timon Gremmels; the national associations of local authorities; and the representatives of the Jewish Claims Conference and the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Rüdiger Mahlo and Daniel Botmann, for the intensive collaborative effort and the trust they have placed in us. I’d also like to specially thank the Advisory Commission and its chair, Hans-Jürgen Papier, for their commendable work within the Commission and their contribution to developing the Commission further.”

Timon Gremmels, chair of the Standing Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder and Hessian State Minister of Science and Research, Arts and Culture: “The restitution of Nazi-confiscated cultural property is not solely a question of justice. For a democratic Germany, it is also an essential step in reckoning with our own history. By establishing an arbitration panel for Nazi-looted cultural property, Jewish organisations, the Federal Government, municipalities and not least Germany’s federal states have affirmed their commitment to the victims of National Socialism and their descendants. Together we have succeeded in finding a process for achieving legally binding decisions that offer certainty for all parties. The new arbitration procedure will go far beyond the Advisory Commission’s current mediation process. As a part of ensuring acceptance for the procedure we have agreed on, it will be independently evaluated within the next three years; it will also take up its work promptly to provide a measure of justice for the many victims and later generations. In the future, no public building should be decorated with Nazi-looted art.”

 

Decision

21st high-level cultural policy meeting on 9 October 2024

Principles for new arbitration panel for Nazi-confiscated cultural property

The Minister of State for Culture and the Media, the federal states and the national associations of local authorities are aware of Germany’s historical responsibility for dealing with Nazi-confiscated cultural property. Bearing in mind the horrors of the Nazi regime and the lasting impacts of its vast and immeasurable injustice, Germany commits to ensuring justice for the victims and subsequent generations. In this spirit, Germany committed through a joint declaration to implementing the Washington Principles and their best practices, which name the art theft of the Nazi regime and call for the identification of Nazi-confiscated cultural property and for fair and just solutions.

Based on experience and while recognising what has been achieved to date, the practice of restitution in Germany is to be improved and the victims and their descendants are to play a greater role in it. Arbitration is to replace the work of the Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property. Through this change made in accord with our decisions of October 2023 and March 2024, we want to better meet the goals of the Washington Principles. The new arbitration panel for Nazi-confiscated cultural property is to be appointed jointly by the federal and state governments, the national associations of local authorities, the Jewish Claims Conference and the Central Council of Jews in Germany. In cases in which restitution remains disputed following preliminary proceedings, the panel is to issue a final decision. The arbitration panel is to work on the basis of a binding framework for assessment; unilateral recourse to it will be possible on the basis of standing offers from the funding bodies of public institutions preserving cultural property if bilateral preliminary proceedings between the public cultural institution and the person eligible to make a claim have failed. This also applies to claims against private parties if these parties participate in the arbitration proceedings.

To this end, the following points have been agreed:

1. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the federal states and the national associations of local authorities agree to the administrative agreement and the rules of arbitration, including their annexes and the binding framework for assessment as foundations for the new arbitration panel for Nazi-confiscated cultural property.
2. They thank the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the Jewish Claims Conference for the intensive collaborative effort and for the procedure that has been agreed on the basis of mutual trust.
3. The work of arbitration is to begin in 2025. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the federal states and the national associations of local authorities will strive to sign the administrative agreement as quickly as possible and to make the necessary decisions, including within their respective (state or federal) governments to make this possible.
4. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the federal states and the national associations of local authorities as well as the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the Jewish Claims Conference will appoint arbitrators for the joint register by common agreement.
5. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the federal states and the national associations of local authorities agree that an arbitration office serving the arbitration panel for Nazi-confiscated cultural property will be established at the German Lost Art Foundation. The location of the arbitration panels and the working location of the arbitration office are yet to be determined.
6. For claimants and for institutions preserving cultural property, the arbitration proceeding will be free of charge, except for their own costs, for example the costs of legal representation. From 2026 onward, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media will pay half of the costs of the arbitration panel for Nazi-confiscated cultural property and the arbitration office, and the federal states will pay the other half.
7. With the signature of the administrative agreement, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the federal states will submit a “standing offer” which will serve as the basis for unilateral appeals. They will also ask the institutions which they fund to likewise submit standing offers. The federal states and the national associations of local authorities will approach municipalities and ask them to submit such standing offers for their institutions.
8. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the federal states and the national associations of local authorities thank the Advisory Commission and each of its members and especially Professor Papier for their service over more than 20 years in implementing the Washington Principles in Germany and for their important input on the further development laid out here. We thank the Advisory Commission for their willingness to continue their work until the arbitration panel is able to begin its work, and we will coordinate closely with the Advisory Commission on this matter.
9. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the federal states and the national associations of local authorities intend to evaluate the arbitration panel for Nazi-confiscated cultural property after its first ten arbitration awards, but no later than after three years. They will endeavour to replace the administrative agreement with a state treaty at that point.
10. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the federal states and the national associations of local authorities underscore their intention to strengthen provenance research. They want to discuss this matter at the next high-level cultural policy meeting after presenting a concept.

 

Background:

On 13 March 2024, Germany’s federal and state governments and national associations of local authorities agreed on a reform to the Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property. In doing so, they strove to replace the Advisory Commission with arbitration. The standards for the arbitration panel were drafted by a joint working group of federal and state governments and national associations of local authorities, with the two largest Jewish associations in Germany – the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the Jewish Claims Conference – contributing external expertise and victims’ perspectives. By reforming the Advisory Commission, the Federal Government has fulfilled a promise made in its coalition agreement.

 

Additional note:

Please also note the statement of the Jewish Claims Conference: After Nearly 80 Years, A Significant Step Is Achieved Towards An Art Restitution Law In Germany For Holocaust Survivors And Heirs