Claims Conference / WRJO Looted Art & Cultural Property Initiative
Working with relevant governments and Jewish communities around the world, the organizations focus on systemic issues, with emphasis on public institutional provenance research (research on the ownership history of an object from its creation to the present time) and the creation of a just and simple claims process in all countries. The Claims Conference/WJRO sponsors various projects toward these goals.
The Claims Conference/WJRO do not take on representation of individual claimants. Today most property and asset claim programs established in Western Europe since World War II have expired. The Claims Conference is working with the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) for the enactment of property compensation/restitution legislation in Eastern Europe. At this time, however, there is no governmental program open for the filing of property claims.
New York State Holocaust Claims Processing Office
Since 1997 the Holocaust Claims Processing Office (HCPO) has advocated on behalf of Holocaust victims and their heirs, seeking the just and orderly return of assets to their original owners. In fulfilling this mission, as of December 31, 2020, the HCPO has facilitated the restitution of over $181 million in bank accounts, insurance policies, and other material losses and the resolution of cases involving more than 179 works of art.
Our cooperation enables a partnership in the search, research and return of books confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution to the current owners, heirs and organizations, especially from Jewish ownership, worldwide. Through this networking, we benefit from the mutual exchange of knowledge in the fields of provenance research. In teamwork we share our knowledge and offer technical support within the cooperation. We preserve the research results and make them available to the public in our database.
Provenance Research and Voluntary Transfer of Assets at the Jewish Museum in Prague
The Jewish Museum in Prague has a detailed webpage about their restitution process, any pending claims, and all past resolved claims. Voluntary transfer of assets may apply primarily to objects and books that were incorporated into its collections between 1942-1945 after being confiscated from Jewish owners. This relates mainly to objects confiscated by the Prague Treuhandstelle (Trustee's Office) from individuals who were deported from the Prague area to ghettos and death camps from the autumn of 1941 onwards, including books confiscated from individual deportees in the Terezín ghetto that were added to the Terezín Zentralbücherei (Central Library or Hebrew Library), as long as they were transferred to the library of the Jewish Museum in Prague after the war..
The Lost Art database documents cultural assets that were confiscated from those persecuted by the Nazi dictatorship, especially Jewish owners, between 1933 and 1945 ("NS-looted property"), or for which such a loss cannot be ruled out. With the help of the publication of search and find reports, previous owners or their heirs should be brought together with current owners and supported in finding a just and fair solution. The Lost Art database also contains reports on cultural assets that were removed as a result of the events of World War II ("looted property").