the Director of the Vienna Albertina Museum Klaus Albrecht schröder (Klaus Albrecht Schroeder) proposed to limit the period for filing restitution claims from the heirs of Holocaust victims in relation to works of art in public Kollektsia@

In the opinion of the Director, a reasonable time limit will be the period from 20 to 30 years, around the centenary of the end of world war II. If this is not done, Schroeder believes, it will fit perfectly logical to ask the question of why we're not investigating such crimes during the First world war, why not consider the circumstances of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871 years and why can't we demand the restitution of works stolen in the previous vaynah@

Schroeder believes that the investigation of disputed provenance of works in Museum collections to date was expected in countries such as Austria. This country in 1998 along with other signed the Washington agreement on promoting the restitution of works of art to Holocaust victims and their heirs. According to Klaus Albrecht schröder, Austria has returned to the restitution of about 50 thousand items, once stolen by the Nazis, and after caught in Museum collections. All returns were made, notwithstanding the period of limitation of applications. "But now, not forgetting about the horrible war crimes, we must come to the point in which the story will be accepted as history, and will leave this matter alone," says Shrader@

Diametrically opposite view is held by the head of the Jewish Congress and collector Ronald Lauder. In an interview with the Observer, he stated that the restorative process many years there in the USA and Austria, but much more remains to be done in Germany and then in Switzerland. "I've spent the last 15 years in restorative battles — continued Lauder. — Now the big question  is Germany, and then Switzerland... What should happen next is the fact that the German government will convene a special Commission that will investigate the provenance of all works in the collections of German museums," said Lauder@

According to the head of the Jewish Congress, in German museums still a lot of work, stolen from German houses. "Another problem  is the limitation of claims, however these works are prisoners of war," he added Louder@

Among those works that Ronald Lauder offers to return in the first place, is a diptych by Lucas Cranach the Elder's "Adam and eve" in the collection of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena (see AI: California Museum no escape from restorative action regarding the Cranach diptych).

the Material was prepared by Maria Onuchin, AI

Sources: museum-security.org, observer.com, artinvestment.ru