Some were sold or destroyed. More and more famous artworks are embarrassingly turning up in prominent museums and private collections. And as the paintings' cloudy history becomes revealed, troubling questions are being asked about the legal and moral implications over the ownership of looted art. Amid the splendor of a Washington ballroom in the heart of Embassy Row, an international group of historians, curators, lawyers and lawmakers met yesterday to discuss the issues surrounding restitution to the victims of Nazi plundering. Members of Congress talked of enacting laws to let people sue foreign nationals in federal courts.
Art has a tendency to survive many calamities because it is prized.
The conference was sponsored by Washington's National Jewish Museum. Through its Holocaust Art Restitution Project, the museum is trying to develop a database for locating art stolen by the Nazis from Jewish collections in Europe. It is no easy task. Besides resistance from museums and galleries that are protective of their collections, the trail of ownership is often shrouded in World War II intrigue. Sometimes heirs just have yellowed photos of a painting above the mantle.