A new government agency designed to help the rightful owners to return the works confiscated from them by fascists. It will fund research conducted to determine provenansa Works

Over the past 10 years by German museums returned to the rightful owners more than a thousand works of art stolen Nazi. But, according to Uwe Hartmann (Uwe Hartmann), is only «a drop in the sea». Hartmann - the head of a new government agency whose purpose is to study provenansa works in public collections.

In an interview with Bloomberg Hartmann said that in German collections are hundreds of works seized by the fascists. According to him, the museum will inevitably be faced with these owners and their heirs. «I think that in the next decade, the restitution will be pursued at the same pace - he said. - She did not slow down».

In the era of the Third Reich, Hitler set up a special commission, which was to find and select the owner of the old masters. All works must have been to enter the collection, which was to be built in his native town of Linz Führer. Other works confiscated by the Nazis, added to an extensive collection of reyhsmarshala Hermann Goring (Hermann Goering). After the war, the work of «Lintsskoy collection» and assembly Goring (about 650 thousand pieces) have been returned to the States from which they were removed. There, many of them have become museum exhibits. The Government of Germany in the postwar years had been trying to pay compensation to the true owners, but are fully repair the damage, of course, it was not possible.

In 1998, Washington has developed a provision on the Nazis confiscated works of art. Regulations signed by representatives of 44 countries that do not entail legal obligations. According to the document, information about the work of «controversial» provenansom in public meetings, and now may be granted at the request of investigators and the alleged owners of works. Government agency in Germany suggested the establishment in 2007, after the heirs of the rightful owners has been returned to painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner).

«Twelve or fifteen museums, some five years in research to determine who owns the work of their assembly - said Hartmann. - But the majority of these studies were not conducted. They are looking for information on provenanse only when they are alleged owners of works - no one is addressing this issue constantly ».

The new agency will provide museums and other cultural facilities grant of up to 15 thousand euros if they need to conduct a study to determine the owner of any work. Now the museum will not be able to refuse to conduct such studies because of lack of funds.

Sources: artinfo.com , artinvestment.ru