I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6130 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2016 

Mr. GOODLATTE (for himself, Mr. NADLER, Mr. DESANTIS, Mrs. CAROLYN

B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of 

Pennsylvania, Mr. LANCE, and Mr. GRIFFITH) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Holocaust Expropri5 ated Art Recovery Act of 2016’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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

2 otherwise misappropriated hundreds of thousands of 

3 works of art and other property throughout Europe 

4 as part of their genocidal campaign against the Jew5 ish people and other persecuted groups. This has 

6 been described as the ‘‘greatest displacement of art 

7 in human history’’. 

8 (2) Following World War II, the United States 

9 and its allies attempted to return the stolen 

10 artworks to their countries of origin. Despite these 

11 efforts, many works of art were never reunited with 

12 their owners. Some of the art has since been discov13 ered in the United States. 

14 (3) In 1998, the United States convened a con15 ference with 43 other nations in Washington, DC, 

16 known as the Washington Conference, which pro17 duced Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. One of 

18 these principles is that ‘‘steps should be taken expe19 ditiously to achieve a just and fair solution’’ to 

20 claims involving such art that has not been 

21 restituted if the owners or their heirs can be identi22 fied. 

23 (4) The same year, Congress enacted the Holo24 caust Victims Redress Act (Public Law 105–158, 

25 112 Stat. 15), which expressed the sense of ConVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:40 Sep 27, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6130.IH H6130

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1 gress that ‘‘all governments should undertake good 

2 faith efforts to facilitate the return of private and 

3 public property, such as works of art, to the rightful 

4 owners in cases where assets were confiscated from 

5 the claimant during the period of Nazi rule and 

6 there is reasonable proof that the claimant is the 

7 rightful owner.’’. 

8 (5) In 2009, the United States participated in 

9 a Holocaust Era Assets Conference in Prague, 

10 Czech Republic, with 45 other nations. At the con11 clusion of this conference, the participating nations 

12 issued the Terezin Declaration, which reaffirmed the 

13 1998 Washington Conference Principles on Nazi14 Confiscated Art and urged all participants ‘‘to en15 sure that their legal systems or alternative processes, 

16 while taking into account the different legal tradi17 tions, facilitate just and fair solutions with regard to 

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

19 that claims to recover such art are resolved expedi20 tiously and based on the facts and merits of the 

21 claims and all the relevant documents submitted by 

22 all parties.’’. The Declaration also urged participants 

23 to ‘‘consider all relevant issues when applying var24 ious legal provisions that may impede the restitution 

25 of art and cultural property, in order to achieve just 


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1 and fair solutions, as well as alternative dispute res2 olution, where appropriate under law.’’. 

3 (6) Victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs 

4 have taken legal action in the United States to re5 cover Nazi-confiscated art. These lawsuits face sig6 nificant procedural obstacles partly due to State 

7 statutes of limitations, which typically bar claims 

8 within some limited number of years from either the 

9 date of the loss or the date that the claim should 

10 have been discovered. In some cases, this means that 

11 the claims expired before World War II even ended. 

12 (See, e.g., Detroit Institute of Arts v. Ullin, No. 06– 

13 10333, 2007 WL 1016996 (E.D. Mich. Mar. 31, 

14 2007).) The unique and horrific circumstances of 

15 World War II and the Holocaust make statutes of 

16 limitations especially burdensome to the victims and 

17 their heirs. Those seeking recovery of Nazi-con18 fiscated art must painstakingly piece together their 

19 cases from a fragmentary historical record ravaged 

20 by persecution, war, and genocide. This costly proc21 ess often cannot be done within the time constraints 

22 imposed by existing law. 

23 (7) Federal legislation is needed because the 

24 only court that has considered the question held that 

25 the Constitution prohibits States from making exVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:40 Sep 27, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6130.IH H6130

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1 ceptions to their statutes of limitations to accommo2 date claims involving the recovery of Nazi-con3 fiscated art. In Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum 

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

5 States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit invali6 dated a California law that extended the State stat7 ute of limitations for claims seeking recovery of Hol8 ocaust-era artwork. The Court held that the law was 

9 an unconstitutional infringement of the Federal Gov10 ernment’s exclusive authority over foreign affairs, 

11 which includes the resolution of war-related disputes. 

12 In light of this precedent, the enactment of a Fed13 eral law is necessary to ensure that claims to Nazi14 confiscated art are adjudicated in accordance with 

15 United States policy as expressed in the Washington 

16 Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, the 

17 Holocaust Victims Redress Act, and the Terezin 

18 Declaration. 

19 (8) While litigation may be used to resolve 

20 claims to recover Nazi-confiscated art, it is the sense 

21 of Congress that the private resolution of claims by 

22 parties involved, on the merits and through the use 

23 of alternative dispute resolution such as mediation 

24 panels established for this purpose with the aid of 

25 experts in provenance research and history, will yield 


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1 just and fair resolutions in a more efficient and pre2 dictable manner. 

3 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

4 The purposes of this Act are the following: 

5 (1) To ensure that laws governing claims to 

6 Nazi-confiscated art and other property further 

7 United States policy as set forth in the Washington 

8 Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, the 

9 Holocaust Victims Redress Act, and the Terezin 

10 Declaration. 

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

12 property stolen or misappropriated by the Nazis are 

13 not unfairly barred by statutes of limitations but are 

14 resolved in a just and fair manner. 

15 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (1) ACTUAL DISCOVERY.—The term ‘‘actual 

18 discovery’’ means knowledge. 

19 (2) ARTWORK OR OTHER PROPERTY.—The 

20 term ‘‘artwork or other property’’ means— 

21 (A) pictures, paintings, and drawings; 

22 (B) statuary art and sculpture; 

23 (C) engravings, prints, lithographs, and 

24 works of graphic art; 


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1 (D) applied art and original artistic assem2 blages and montages; 

3 (E) books, archives, musical objects and 

4 manuscripts (including musical manuscripts 

5 and sheets), and sound, photographic, and cine6 matographic archives and mediums; and 

7 (F) sacred and ceremonial objects and 

8 Judaica. 

9 (3) COVERED PERIOD.—The term ‘‘covered pe10 riod’’ means the period beginning on January 1, 

11 1933, and ending on December 31, 1945. 

12 (4) KNOWLEDGE.—The term ‘‘knowledge’’ 

13 means having actual knowledge of a fact or cir14 cumstance or sufficient information with regard to a 

15 relevant fact or circumstance to amount to actual 

16 knowledge thereof. 

17 (5) NAZI PERSECUTION.—The term ‘‘Nazi per18 secution’’ means any persecution of a specific group 

19 of individuals based on Nazi ideology by the Govern20 ment of Germany, its allies or agents, members of 

21 the Nazi Party, or their agents or associates, during 

22 the covered period. 

23 SEC. 5. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi25 sion of Federal or State law or any defense at law relating 


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1 to the passage of time, and except as otherwise provided 

2 in this section, a civil claim or cause of action against a 

3 defendant to recover any artwork or other property that 

4 was lost during the covered period because of Nazi perse5 cution may be commenced not later than 6 years after the 

6 actual discovery by the claimant or the agent of the claim7 ant of— 

8 (1) the identity and location of the artwork or 

9 other property; and 

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

11 artwork or other property. 

12 (b) POSSIBLE MISIDENTIFICATION.—For purposes of 

13 subsection (a)(1), in a case in which the artwork or other 

14 property is one of a group of substantially similar multiple 

15 artworks or other property, actual discovery of the identity 

16 and location of the artwork or other property shall be 

17 deemed to occur on the date on which there are facts suffi18 cient to form a substantial basis to believe that the art19 work or other property is the artwork or other property 

20 that was lost. 

21 (c) PREEXISTING CLAIMS.—Except as provided in 

22 subsection (e), a civil claim or cause of action described 

23 in subsection (a) shall be deemed to have been actually 

24 discovered on the date of enactment of this Act if— 

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


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1 (A) a claimant had knowledge of the ele2 ments set forth in subsection (a); and 

3 (B) the civil claim or cause of action was 

4 barred by a Federal or State statute of limita5 tions; or 

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

7 a claimant had knowledge of the elements set forth 

8 in subsection (a); and 

9 (B) on the date of enactment of this Act, the 

10 civil claim or cause of action was not barred by a 

11 Federal or State statute of limitations. 

12 (d) APPLICABILITY.—Subsection (a) shall apply to 

13 any civil claim or cause of action that is— 

14 (1) pending in any court on the date of enact15 ment of this Act, including any civil claim or cause 

16 of action that is pending on appeal or for which the 

17 time to file an appeal has not expired; or 

18 (2) filed during the period beginning on the 

19 date of enactment of this Act and ending on Decem20 ber 31, 2026. 

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

22 any civil claim or cause of action barred on the day before 

23 the date of enactment of this Act by a Federal or State 

24 statute of limitations if— 


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

2 the claimant had knowledge of the elements set forth 

3 in subsection (a) on or after January 1, 1999; and 

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

5 date such claimant or predecessor-in-interest ac6 quired such knowledge and during which time the 

7 civil claim or cause of action was not barred by a 

8 Federal or State statute of limitations. 

9 (f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

10 shall be construed to create a civil claim or cause of action 

11 under Federal or State law. 

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

13 January 1, 2027, except that this Act shall continue to 

14 apply to any civil claim or cause of action described in 

15 subsection (a) that is pending on January 1, 2027. Any 

16 civil claim or cause of action commenced on or after that 

17 date to recover artwork or other property described in this 

18 Act shall be subject to any applicable Federal or State 

19 statute of limitations or any other Federal or State de20 fense at law relating to the passage of time. 

Æ 


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