Art looted by Nazis may be in Louvre
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A SECRETLY compiled US government report listing more than 2,000 people who handled art looted by the Nazis will become a weapon in tracing works stolen from Holocaust victims, a Jewish leader has claimed.
The 1946 report "is a starting point for the investigation of looted wartime art in all the galleries and museum collections in the world," said Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, which released the 170-page list on Tuesday.
The organisation is leading a new international effort to find the Picassos, Matisses, Renoirs and other plundered works. The works are in private and public collections and could be in museums such as the Louvre in Paris and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.
"In most cases, they have been unknowingly placed there," Steinberg said.
The secret list of dealers and collectors was compiled by the art looting unit of the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor of the US Central Intelligence Agency. Agents were sent to Europe after the war to track an estimated 200,000 looted artworks.
At least three-quarters of the works came from Jewish families, and about half were never returned, Steinberg said. A few of the dealers and collectors were themselves Jewish, according to the report.
The document, from the National Archives in Washington, names individuals who bought or sold art during the Second World War in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Luxembourg.
France, led by the pro-Hitler Vichy regime, was a prime target of the Nazi art collectors; the Wehrmacht arrived with lists of paintings and looted at least 100,000 works of art there.
The OSS document won't necessarily prove a work of art was plundered, Steinberg said, "but it's a warning flag. It's a sign we need to inquire further."
The Nazis made off with art then valued at about $2.5 billion - about equal to all the art owned in the United States at the time, Steinberg said.
Museums, curators and Jewish organisations worldwide will now use the list to track the provenance of thousands of works and try to return them to their prewar owners, Steinberg said. (AP)
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments