France fast-tracks Jewish claims on WWII stolen art

By AFP 13 July 2023, 7:01 pm

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France has passed a law making it easier to return works of art seized by Nazi Germany that ended up in French museums to their Jewish owners.

The law, adopted unanimously by both houses of parliament, is to allow “concrete legal action” for the restitution of art taken during the World War II German occupation of France, the culture minister says.

Nazi Germany had a policy of seizing art as part of its persecution of Jews in occupied areas, and is estimated to have taken 100,000 works of art from France alone, according to the culture ministry.

Some 60,000 pieces were located in Germany after the war and brought back to France, where most were returned to their owners or their heirs. But 2,200 works went to French state-owned museums.