PUBLIC LAW 114–308—DEC. 16, 2016 

HOLOCAUST EXPROPRIATED ART RECOVERY 

ACT OF 2016 


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130 STAT. 1524 PUBLIC LAW 114–308—DEC. 16, 2016 

Public Law 114–308 

114th Congress 

An Act 

To provide the victims of Holocaust-era persecution and their heirs a fair opportunity 

to recover works of art confiscated or misappropriated by the Nazis. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Holocaust Expropriated Art 

Recovery Act of 2016’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

Congress finds the following: 

(1) It is estimated that the Nazis confiscated or otherwise 

misappropriated hundreds of thousands of works of art and 

other property throughout Europe as part of their genocidal 

campaign against the Jewish people and other persecuted 

groups. This has been described as the ‘‘greatest displacement 

of art in human history’’. 

(2) Following World War II, the United States and its 

allies attempted to return the stolen artworks to their countries 

of origin. Despite these efforts, many works of art were never 

reunited with their owners. Some of the art has since been 

discovered in the United States. 

(3) In 1998, the United States convened a conference with 

43 other nations in Washington, DC, known as the Washington 

Conference, which produced Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. 

One of these principles is that ‘‘steps should be taken expeditiously to achieve a just and fair solution’’ to claims involving 

such art that has not been restituted if the owners or their 

heirs can be identified. 

(4) The same year, Congress enacted the Holocaust Victims 

Redress Act (Public Law 105–158, 112 Stat. 15), which 

expressed the sense of Congress that ‘‘all governments should 

undertake good faith efforts to facilitate the return of private 

and public property, such as works of art, to the rightful owners 

in cases where assets were confiscated from the claimant during 

the period of Nazi rule and there is reasonable proof that 

the claimant is the rightful owner.’’. 

(5) In 2009, the United States participated in a Holocaust 

Era Assets Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, with 45 

other nations. At the conclusion of this conference, the participating nations issued the Terezin Declaration, which reaffirmed 

the 1998 Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated 

Art and urged all participants ‘‘to ensure that their legal systems or alternative processes, while taking into account the 

Holocaust 

Expropriated Art 

Recovery Act 

of 2016. 

22 USC 1621 

note. 

Dec. 16, 2016 

[H.R. 6130] 


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PUBLIC LAW 114–308—DEC. 16, 2016 130 STAT. 1525 

different legal traditions, facilitate just and fair solutions with 

regard to Nazi-confiscated and looted art, and to make certain 

that claims to recover such art are resolved expeditiously and 

based on the facts and merits of the claims and all the relevant 

documents submitted by all parties.’’. The Declaration also 

urged participants to ‘‘consider all relevant issues when 

applying various legal provisions that may impede the restitution of art and cultural property, in order to achieve just and 

fair solutions, as well as alternative dispute resolution, where 

appropriate under law.’’. 

(6) Victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs have taken 

legal action in the United States to recover Nazi-confiscated 

art. These lawsuits face significant procedural obstacles partly 

due to State statutes of limitations, which typically bar claims 

within some limited number of years from either the date 

of the loss or the date that the claim should have been discovered. In some cases, this means that the claims expired before 

World War II even ended. (See, e.g., Detroit Institute of Arts 

v. Ullin, No. 06–10333, 2007 WL 1016996 (E.D. Mich. Mar. 

31, 2007).) The unique and horrific circumstances of World 

War II and the Holocaust make statutes of limitations especially burdensome to the victims and their heirs. Those seeking 

recovery of Nazi-confiscated art must painstakingly piece 

together their cases from a fragmentary historical record ravaged by persecution, war, and genocide. This costly process 

often cannot be done within the time constraints imposed by 

existing law. 

(7) Federal legislation is needed because the only court 

that has considered the question held that the Constitution 

prohibits States from making exceptions to their statutes of 

limitations to accommodate claims involving the recovery of 

Nazi-confiscated art. In Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum 

of Art, 592 F.3d 954 (9th Cir. 2009), the United States Court 

of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit invalidated a California law 

that extended the State statute of limitations for claims seeking 

recovery of Holocaust-era artwork. The Court held that the 

law was an unconstitutional infringement of the Federal 

Government’s exclusive authority over foreign affairs, which 

includes the resolution of war-related disputes. In light of this 

precedent, the enactment of a Federal law is necessary to 

ensure that claims to Nazi-confiscated art are adjudicated in 

accordance with United States policy as expressed in the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, the Holocaust Victims Redress Act, and the Terezin Declaration. 

(8) While litigation may be used to resolve claims to recover 

Nazi-confiscated art, it is the sense of Congress that the private 

resolution of claims by parties involved, on the merits and 

through the use of alternative dispute resolution such as mediation panels established for this purpose with the aid of experts 

in provenance research and history, will yield just and fair 

resolutions in a more efficient and predictable manner. 

SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

The purposes of this Act are the following: 

(1) To ensure that laws governing claims to Nazi-confiscated art and other property further United States policy 

as set forth in the Washington Conference Principles on NaziVerDate Sep 11 2014 11:01 Jan 13, 2017 Jkt 069139 PO 00308 Frm 00003 Fmt 6580 Sfmt 6581 E:\PUBLAW\PUBL308.114 PUBL308

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130 STAT. 1526 PUBLIC LAW 114–308—DEC. 16, 2016 

Confiscated Art, the Holocaust Victims Redress Act, and the 

Terezin Declaration. 

(2) To ensure that claims to artwork and other property 

stolen or misappropriated by the Nazis are not unfairly barred 

by statutes of limitations but are resolved in a just and fair 

manner. 

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

In this Act: 

(1) ACTUAL DISCOVERY.—The term ‘‘actual discovery’’ means 

knowledge. 

(2) ARTWORK OR OTHER PROPERTY.—The term ‘‘artwork or 

other property’’ means— 

(A) pictures, paintings, and drawings; 

(B) statuary art and sculpture; 

(C) engravings, prints, lithographs, and works of 

graphic art; 

(D) applied art and original artistic assemblages and 

montages; 

(E) books, archives, musical objects and manuscripts 

(including musical manuscripts and sheets), and sound, 

photographic, and cinematographic archives and mediums; 

and 

(F) sacred and ceremonial objects and Judaica. 

(3) COVERED PERIOD.—The term ‘‘covered period’’ means 

the period beginning on January 1, 1933, and ending on 

December 31, 1945. 

(4) KNOWLEDGE.—The term ‘‘knowledge’’ means having 

actual knowledge of a fact or circumstance or sufficient information with regard to a relevant fact or circumstance to amount 

to actual knowledge thereof. 

(5) NAZI PERSECUTION.—The term ‘‘Nazi persecution’’ 

means any persecution of a specific group of individuals based 

on Nazi ideology by the Government of Germany, its allies 

or agents, members of the Nazi Party, or their agents or associates, during the covered period. 

SEC. 5. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal or State law or any defense at law relating to the passage 

of time, and except as otherwise provided in this section, a civil 

claim or cause of action against a defendant to recover any artwork 

or other property that was lost during the covered period because 

of Nazi persecution may be commenced not later than 6 years 

after the actual discovery by the claimant or the agent of the 

claimant of— 

(1) the identity and location of the artwork or other property; and 

(2) a possessory interest of the claimant in the artwork 

or other property. 

(b) POSSIBLE MISIDENTIFICATION.—For purposes of subsection 

(a)(1), in a case in which the artwork or other property is one 

of a group of substantially similar multiple artworks or other property, actual discovery of the identity and location of the artwork 

or other property shall be deemed to occur on the date on which 

there are facts sufficient to form a substantial basis to believe 

that the artwork or other property is the artwork or other property 

that was lost. 

Deadline. 


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PUBLIC LAW 114–308—DEC. 16, 2016 130 STAT. 1527 

(c) PREEXISTING CLAIMS.—Except as provided in subsection (e), 

a civil claim or cause of action described in subsection (a) shall 

be deemed to have been actually discovered on the date of enactment 

of this Act if— 

(1) before the date of enactment of this Act— 

(A) a claimant had knowledge of the elements set forth 

in subsection (a); and 

(B) the civil claim or cause of action was barred by 

a Federal or State statute of limitations; or 

(2)(A) before the date of enactment of this Act, a claimant 

had knowledge of the elements set forth in subsection (a); 

and 

(B) on the date of enactment of this Act, the civil claim 

or cause of action was not barred by a Federal or State statute 

of limitations. 

(d) APPLICABILITY.—Subsection (a) shall apply to any civil claim 

or cause of action that is— 

(1) pending in any court on the date of enactment of this 

Act, including any civil claim or cause of action that is pending 

on appeal or for which the time to file an appeal has not 

expired; or 

(2) filed during the period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act and ending on December 31, 2026. 

(e) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to any civil 

claim or cause of action barred on the day before the date of 

enactment of this Act by a Federal or State statute of limitations 

if— 

(1) the claimant or a predecessor-in-interest of the claimant 

had knowledge of the elements set forth in subsection (a) on 

or after January 1, 1999; and 

(2) not less than 6 years have passed from the date such 

claimant or predecessor-in-interest acquired such knowledge 

and during which time the civil claim or cause of action was 

not barred by a Federal or State statute of limitations. 

(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to create a civil claim or cause of action under Federal 

or State law. 

(g) SUNSET.—This Act shall cease to have effect on January 

1, 2027, except that this Act shall continue to apply to any civil 

claim or cause of action described in subsection (a) that is pending 

on January 1, 2027. Any civil claim or cause of action commenced 

on or after that date to recover artwork or other property described 

in this Act shall be subject to any applicable Federal or State 

Time period. 

Time period. 


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130 STAT. 1528 PUBLIC LAW 114–308—DEC. 16, 2016 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 6130 (S. 2763): 

SENATE REPORTS: No. 114–394 (Comm. on the Judiciary) accompanying S. 2763. 

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 162 (2016): 

Dec. 7, considered and passed House. 

Dec. 9, considered and passed Senate. 

Æ 

statute of limitations or any other Federal or State defense at 

law relating to the passage of time. 

Approved December 16, 2016. 


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