A text to facilitate the restitution of property and works of art looted from Jews during the Second World War was unanimously approved by the National Assembly on Thursday, June 29. The Senate had already voted the text unanimously on May 23.
“Nothing can repair the tragedy of the Holocaust. But we can do everything in our power so that these cultural assets can be returned”, and that the rights holders recover “a fragment of family history”, defended the Minister of Culture Rima Abdul-Malak. “We also know that the French state, the one that governed from Vichy, all in its will to collaborate (…) but also on its own initiative, proceeded to the Aryanization of thousands” of goods, continued the minister .
The government text sets a framework for removing from museums works that were looted between January 30, 1933 (Hitler’s accession to power) and May 8, 1945 (Liberation), and returning them without having to resort to specific laws. . The Assembly adopted it unanimously by the 77 voters, even if several elected officials deplored the lack of resources allocated to the services responsible for restitution.
One hundred thousand works were seized in France during the Second World War according to the ministry. Some 60,000 items found in Germany at the Liberation were returned to France. 45,000 were quickly returned, and around 2,200 works were entrusted to national museums, known as “MNR works”. The rest was sold by the administration of the Domains in the early 1950s, and many works returned to the market.
However, unlike “MNR” works of art, the State can only launch the restitution of works that have entered public collections by adopting laws, to derogate from the principle of the inalienability of collections. The text proposes to endorse a derogation from this principle. However, the State will have to consult a special commission. The beneficiaries will be able to reach an amicable agreement on other terms of repair than restitution.
The debates, rather consensual, were briefly tense when the RN group proposed to clarify that the authority of the Vichy regime was “illegal and illegitimate”, elected leftists and the majority accusing it of wanting to minimize the role of the French state. Two other texts are on the job. The Senate adopted at first reading in mid-June a bill on the restitution of “human remains”, such as the Maori heads returned in 2010 to New Zealand. And Emmanuel Macron promised a text on the restitution of African cultural property.
