Looting and so what… Polish works of art are already gone

The chances of Poland recovering works of art looted during World War II are slim, writes “Rzeczpospolita” on Saturday. The obstacles included: the complexity of the German federal administration and the ineffectiveness of international law.

The newspaper reported that over 500,000 works of art from Polish state and private collections were lost in the years 1939-1945. It is estimated that Poland also lost tens of millions of volumes in pre-war libraries. Currently, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage is looking for over 60,000. objects and groups of objects.

The matter is complicated by Germany, or rather by its regulations

One of the obstacles that makes searching for monuments difficult is the fact that each of the 16 German states has its own ministry of culture and separate regulations on the treatment of cultural property. As reported by “Rz”, “the number of independently maintained registers of monuments varies significantly depending on the state – from one collective register in Berlin to over 300 in North Rhine-Westphalia.”

In the opinion of the editors, “the prospects for recovery are the worst when the stolen works are in private hands”, because both in Poland and Germany it is difficult to identify such cases.

The daily also drew attention to the ineffectiveness of international law, because although both countries signed the Washington Declaration of 1998 regarding the issue of works of art looted by the Nazis, the obligations contained therein are imprecise and do not have the status of an international agreement.

Even if they exist, they are no longer in Germany

Moreover, Rz stated that many of the looted works of art are not in Germany, but were “sold decades ago to the USA, France, taken to Argentina (…) others burned in bombed Hamburg or disappeared in the ruins of besieged Berlin.” “Many (objects) are still in Russia and there is no indication that they are ever planned to be returned” – added. (PAP)

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