Press

Claims Conference-WJRO announce release of new report

5 March 2024

The WJRO-Claims Conference report was released on the occasion of the event “25th Anniversary of the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art: Best Practices & The Way Forward,” at which U.S. Secretary of State also unveiled the historic endorsement of a document on Best Practices in art and cultural property restitution by 21 countries.

JDCRP announces Initial List of Persecuted Jewish Artists

31 January 2024

The Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project Foundation (JDCRP) published a first transnational list documenting the lives of Jewish artists persecuted during the National Socialist era.


JDCRP announces Enlarged Initial List of Persecuted Jewish Collectors

31 January 2024

The Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project Foundation (JDCRP) published an enlarged Initial List of Persecuted Jewish Collectors now consisting of approximately 2,600 names of collectors from 13 European countries: Austria, Croatia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Serbia.


JDCRP announces launch of second EU-funded project on Nazi-looted cultural property

31 May 2023

The Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project Foundation (JDCRP) has launched its second project aiming to populate its future cross-searchable data platform on cultural property by the National Socialist, their allies, and collaborators.


French Senate votes unanimously to back Holocaust art restitution efforts

24 May 2023

France’s Senate voted unanimously in favor of the restitution of Jewish-owned paintings, book and religious items taken under Nazi rule that are now in French custody.


A major Estonian art collection looted by the Nazis is probably in Belarus, new report finds

12 April 2023

The Art Newspaper published an article on the Claims Conference/WJRO report entitled “The ERR Looting of the Julius Genss Collection in Estonia.”


The JDCRP announces the publication of an “Initial List of Jewish Collectors.

21 February 2023

The Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project (JDCRP) Foundation announces the publication of an initial list of more than 2,100 Jewish collectors in eight of the European countries whose artworks and cultural objects were stolen, confiscated, or forced into sale by the National Socialists and their allies.


The Claims Conference/WJRO make report on restitution of movable property in Croatia available.

20 October 2022

The Claims Conference/WJRO published an extensive report that presents a historical analysis and partial list of cultural objects looted from Jews and others by the Croatian fascists – the Ustaše – during the Holocaust and after World War II, that were nationalized by the Communist government and distributed to Croatian state institutions.


Claims Conference/WJRO Updated German Chapter of the ERR Archival Guide now available

30 March 2022

The Claims Conference/WJRO are pleased to announce the online publication in cooperation with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum of the latest major updating by Patricia Kennedy Grimsted of her ERR Archival Guide entitled Reconstructing the Record of Nazi Cultural Plunder: A Guide to the Dispersed Archives of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) and the Postwar Retrieval of ERR Loot.


Claims Conference/WJRO Updated French Chapter of the ERR Archival Guide now available

10 February 2022

The Claims Conference/WJRO are pleased to announce the online publication in cooperation with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum of the latest major updating by Patricia Kennedy Grimsted of her ERR Archival Guide entitled Reconstructing the Record of Nazi Cultural Plunder: A Guide to the Dispersed Archives of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) and the Postwar Retrieval of ERR Loot.


Claims Conference/WJRO Statistical Review and Online Overview of the Gurlitt Trove

12 November 2021

The Claims Conference/WJRO has compiled a statistical review of the research results by the Taskforce Schwabinger Kunstfund as well as by the Gurlitt Provenance Research project and brought together all the online available information so as to allow searches for specific paintings with references in various websites.


Claims Conference/WJRO Translation of Listings by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation

12 November 2021

The Claims Conference/WJRO presents on its website a translation into English by Yagna Yass-Alston of all the
listings of paintings that are by known artists.


JDCRP Pilot Project Completed

31 July 2021

The pilot project website presents an object-based visualization of the 1943 Nazi orchestrated theft in southern France of the Adolphe Schloss Collection of Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings.


JDCRP Pilot Project Announcement

16 November 2020

The Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project (JDCRP) announces its pilot project “The Fate of the Adolphe Schloss Collection” which is co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme and launched in January 2020.


Auction house halts sale of sacred artifacts taken illegally during Holocaust after urgent international requests

30 July 2021

Following international requests, including a letter  sent by the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), the Genazym auction house agreed to cancel the sale of the sacred Ledger of the Chevra Kadisha of Tomashvar  Timisoara), until the issue of ownership can be resolved. The auction was initially scheduled to take place in Israel on Wednesday, July 28.


Claims Conference/WJRO announce online publication on 150 library seizure operations stolen by the Nazis in Belgium

7 December 2020

The Claims Conference/ WJRO announce the publication of “Documenting Nazi Library Plunder in Occupied Belgium and Limited Postwar Retrieval” at https://www.errproject.org/looted_libraries_be.php.


JUST Act report

29 July 2020

The WJRO welcomes the State Department’s groundbreaking JUST Act report that shows that many European countries have not met their commitments to Holocaust survivors and Jewish communities to provide restitution or compensation for property that was wrongfully taken from them during the Second World War. 


Judaica manual now also available in German language

April 2019

The Claims Conference/WJRO presents on its website the German edition of the “Handbook on Judaica Provenance Research: Ceremonial Objects”.


European Parliament passes resolution on looted art

17 January 2019

The WJRO welcomes passage today by the European Parliament of a resolution strongly calling on the European Union and its Member States to establish practices to identify and recover works of art and cultural goods such as books, manuscripts, and ritual items looted during war.


Signing of JUST Act

10 May 2018

The WJRO welcomes the signing of “The Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act” into law. The bill will require the State Department to investigate and submit a report to Congress on the extent to which endorsees of the 2009 Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues are meeting their pledges to adopt national laws and policies to help Holocaust survivors identify and reclaim their properties.


Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act Signed into U.S. Law

19 December 2016

The Claims Conference/WJRO welcomes President Barack Obama signing into law the “Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act” to aid recovery of Nazi-looted art. The HEAR Act will guarantee that claims to Nazi-confiscated art are resolved on their merits.


additional articles of interest

Restituted Meissen Porcelains Shatter Estimates at Sotheby’s—and One of the Big Buyers Was the Museum That Returned Them

https://news.artnet.com/market/restituted-meissen-porcelain-sale-shatters-expectations-at-sothebys-2009294

14 September 2021


Amsterdam returns Kandinsky: how is the restitution of values ​​seized during the Holocaust going

https://www.forbes.ru/forbeslife/439313-amsterdam-vozvrasaet-kandinskogo-kak-idet-restitucia-cennostej-iz-atyh-v-holokost

8 September 2021


Are online sales of pre-Holocaust communal records their doom or salvation?

https://www.timesofisrael.com/are-online-sales-of-pre-holocaust-communal-records-their-doom-or-salvation/

30 August 2021


Clevelanders assist in securing funds for WWII-era art theft project

https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/local_news/clevelanders-assist-in-securing-funds-for-wwii-era-art-theft-project/article_daccb50a-e8a9-11eb-a8f9-3fc0379c5e96.html

19 July 2021


Dutch museum will pay $240K to owners of Nazi-looted painting it won’t return

https://www.timesofisrael.com/dutch-museum-will-pay-240k-to-owners-of-nazi-looted-painting-it-wont-return/

20 April 2021


Dutch policy on Nazi-looted art should be more humane and transparent, panel finds

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/dutch-nazi-looted-art-policy-should-be-more-humane-and-transparent-panel-finds

7 December 2020


Chair of Dutch Nazi-loot committee resigns ahead of report on restitution policy

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/chair-of-dutch-nazi-loot-committee-resigns-ahead-of-report-on-restitution-policy

26 November 2020


Jewish collections looted by the Nazis to be examined and traced in new database

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/jewish-collections-looted-by-the-nazis-to-be-examined-and-traced-in-new-database

20 November 2020


Poland Urged to Look for Nazi-Looted Art Still Held in Its Museums

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/12/arts/design/poland-nazi-looted-art.html

12 January 2020


https://www.apollo-magazine.com/are-the-principles-set-out-for-identifying-nazi-looted-art-fit-for-purpose/

last updated February 2024