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US museums have not done enough to shed light on the origins of thousands of works in their hands that might have come from Nazi looting, a report said Tuesday.
The report prepared by the Claims Conference on the Jewish Material Claims Against Germany -- entitled "Nazi-Era Stolen Art and US Museums: A Survey" -- noted that seven years have passed since the United States endorsed the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art and the American Association of Museums' (AAM) recommended Guidelines Concerning the Unlawful Appropriation of Objects During the Nazi Era.
The Claims Conference -- with the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) -- surveyed 332 US museums and found that "some museums have treated the issue very seriously and have done an excellent job, whereas others have lagged well behind," the report said.
"In summary, there has been some progress, but there is still a lot do," it said.
There are more than 140,000 covered objects as defined by the AAM. Those objects were created before 1946 and acquired by a museum after 1932, underwent a change of ownership between 1932 and 1946, and "were or might reasonably be thought to have been in continental Europe between those dates."
Yet "the Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal, which was established to provide a searchable registry of such objects, lists approximately 18,000 items, or slightly higher than 12 percent of the total number of reported 'covered objects,'" it added.
"As the generation of Holocaust survivors slips away, it is urgent that the task of provenance research of items of artwork in US museums rapidly be completed," the report said.
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AFPEntertainment-US-art-Nazis
AFP 251647 GMT 07 06
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