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 con-
fiscated or misappropriated by the Nazis. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Holocaust Expropri-
ated Art Recovery Act of 2016’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(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 Jew-
ish 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 discov-
ered in the United States. 
(3) In 1998, the United States convened a con-
ference with 43 other nations in Washington, DC, 
known as the Washington Conference, which pro-
duced Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. One of 
these principles is that ‘‘steps should be taken expe-
ditiously 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 identi-
fied. 
(4) The same year, Congress enacted the Holo-
caust Victims Redress Act (Public Law 105–158, 
112 Stat. 15), which expressed the sense of Con-
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gress 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 con-
clusion 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 en-
sure that their legal systems or alternative processes, 
while taking into account the different legal tradi-
tions, 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 expedi-
tiously 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 var-
ious legal provisions that may impede the restitution 
of art and cultural property, in order to achieve just 
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and fair solutions, as well as alternative dispute res-
olution, where appropriate under law.’’. 
(6) Victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs 
have taken legal action in the United States to re-
cover Nazi-confiscated art. These lawsuits face sig-
nificant 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-con-
fiscated art must painstakingly piece together their 
cases from a fragmentary historical record ravaged 
by persecution, war, and genocide. This costly proc-
ess 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 ex-
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ceptions to their statutes of limitations to accommo-
date claims involving the recovery of Nazi-con-
fiscated 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 invali-
dated a California law that extended the State stat-
ute of limitations for claims seeking recovery of Hol-
ocaust-era artwork. The Court held that the law was 
an unconstitutional infringement of the Federal Gov-
ernment’s exclusive authority over foreign affairs, 
which includes the resolution of war-related disputes. 
In light of this precedent, the enactment of a Fed-
eral 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 
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just and fair resolutions in a more efficient and pre-
dictable 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 Nazi-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; 
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(D) applied art and original artistic assem-
blages and montages; 
(E) books, archives, musical objects and 
manuscripts (including musical manuscripts 
and sheets), and sound, photographic, and cine-
matographic archives and mediums; and 
(F) sacred and ceremonial objects and 
Judaica. 
(3) COVERED PERIOD.—The term ‘‘covered pe-
riod’’ 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 cir-
cumstance or sufficient information with regard to a 
relevant fact or circumstance to amount to actual 
knowledge thereof. 
(5) NAZI PERSECUTION.—The term ‘‘Nazi per-
secution’’ means any persecution of a specific group 
of individuals based on Nazi ideology by the Govern-
ment 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 provi-
sion of Federal or State law or any defense at law relating 
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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 perse-
cution may be commenced not later than 6 years after the 
actual discovery by the claimant or the agent of the claim-
ant 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 suffi-
cient to form a substantial basis to believe that the art-
work or other property is the artwork or other property 
that was lost. 
(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— 
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(A) a claimant had knowledge of the ele-
ments set forth in subsection (a); and 
(B) the civil claim or cause of action was 
barred by a Federal or State statute of limita-
tions; 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 enact-
ment 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 Decem-
ber 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— 
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(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 ac-
quired 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 
statute of limitations or any other Federal or State de-
fense at law relating to the passage of time. 
Æ 
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