Looted Art: Bavaria suppresses evidence and investigation

Munich - Bavaria has been concealing its findings on looted art in its possession from Jewish heirs and potential claimants for years. This is shown by an investigation by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which has now been published. According to this, Bavaria has marked around 200 works of art in its possession internally as clearly looted art but has not shared this information or initiated restitution proceedings. In addition, there are another 800 or so works of art that are highly likely to be looted art.

Michael Hulton, heir to the Jewish art collector and art dealer Alfred Flechtheim, is deeply shocked by this revelation. "The Nazis disenfranchised, expropriated and expelled my great-uncle Alfred Flechtheim, they destroyed his life. And a German federal state lied to us for years and tried to cover up the historical injustice in order to keep his artworks," says Hulton.

Mel Urbach and Markus Stötzel, the lawyers for the Flechtheim heirs, point out in a statement that Bavaria is massively violating an international treaty with its cover-up: "The Washington Principles of 1998 clearly regulate how such cases should be dealt with. Bavaria should have informed surviving relatives of victims, reported the works to public databases and initiated restitution proceedings," the lawyers said. "In fact, it is clear that Bavaria did not want to adhere to these rules from the outset and shamelessly exploited the ignorance of many potential claimants. A massive injustice committed by the Nazis is still being upheld more than 80 years later.

The lawyers are now calling for the immediate disclosure of all known cases of looted art in Bavaria. "Everything must now be put on the table. The time for excuses is over"