France passes a new law making it easier to return works of art forcibly taken from Jewish collectors by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945.
The bill, presented by the French Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak earlier this year authorized the transfer of Nazi-looted artworks into the country’s public collections without parliamentary approval.
For centuries, French law has stipulated that property belonging to the state is “inalienable”. Their removal requires the passage of a specific law, a process that often takes years and which in some cases has prevented renditions from taking place.
Now, in the case of property proven to have been stolen from Jewish owners, the authorities need only the authorization of a special committee – the Commission for the Compensation of Victims of Spoliation – to initiate a return.
“This is a law of action, guaranteeing that the duty of memory and vigilance is translated into concrete legal actions”, declared the Minister of Culture in a press release. AFP.
The bill was passed by the French Senate on May 23 and by the National Assembly on June 29. Parliament officially adopted the text on July 13. It is the first piece of French legislation to recognize crimes committed against Jews during World War II, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Culture.
For Abdul Malak, changing French restitution laws has been a priority. In her annual New Year’s address in January, Minister pledged to introduce three new bills the relaxation of restrictions on the removal of objects from public collections: the one that has just been adopted, as well as two similar laws relating to human remains and works of art acquired during the colonial era.
For years, pressure to change restitution processes in France has also been growing outside the Ministry of Culture.
In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to return precious pieces of African heritage to their country of origin. The announcement put France at the forefront of a larger cross-cultural conversation about repatriation and decolonization. But at the time of January speech by Abdul Malak, less than 30 of the approximately 90,000 African objects owned by France had been returned to their country of origin.
“I hope that 2023 will be a year of breakthroughs for restitutions,” said the Minister of Culture in her speech. France’s approach to its own history is “neither one of denial nor of repentance, but of recognition”, she added.
Culture Ministry officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of the other two proposed restitution laws.
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