Belated Justice
The Restitution of Expropriated Cultural Assets in the Czech Republic
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The territory of the present-day Czech Republic was far less affected by the National Socialist pillaging of art than most of the other occupied territories. The greatest losses are attributed to the Gestapo, which confiscated Jewish property. Restitution was made for only a part of these treasures after the war. Even after 1989, the Czech state was reluctant to return expropriated art. Then, in 1998, the government established a working committee; in 2000, parliament passed a restitution law; and at the end of 2001, a documentation and research centre took up its work. All of this made possible the restitution of a painting by Rembrandt from the Schloss Collection and of valuable monographs from Breslau’s Jewish Theological Department.
(Osteuropa 1-2/2006, pp. 247–262)