The Plunder and the Restoration of Art and Cultural Property

doi:10.1017/9781108990172.008

6 - The Plunder and the Restoration of Art and Cultural Property

from Part I - History

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2025

Jonathan Petropoulos

Edited by

Laura Jockusch and

Devin O. Pendas

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Laura Jockusch: Affiliation:
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
Devin O. Pendas: Affiliation:
Boston College

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Summary

This chapter reviews the Nazi plunder of art works, Judaica, and other cultural objects during and before the Second World War, showing how it operated as both a top-down and a bottom-up practice. It then traces the diverse efforts around the world to gain restitution or compensation for these plundered goods. Beginning with Allied efforts to locate and return stolen artworks during the closing days of the war (the so-called “Monuments Men”) and continuing through the evasive policies of Germany and Austria after the war, up to the renewed litigation, in Europe and America, starting in the 1990s, the chapter demonstrates the long and difficult road survivors and descendants walked to try to retrieve their stolen property. All too often such efforts failed.

Keywords

Holocaust Art Thefts Second World War Pillage Restitution Reparations

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of the Holocaust , pp. 142 - 165

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108990172.008 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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