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11 Geo. Mason Int'l L.J. 1 (2020)
"Spain for the Spaniards": An Examination of the Plunder & Polemic Restitution of the Salamanca Papers

handle is hein.journals/gmjintco11 and id is 5 raw text is: SPAIN FOR THE SPANIARDS: AN EXAMINATION OF THE PLUNDER & POLEMIC RESTITUTION OF THE SALAMANCA PAPERS Emily T. Behzadi* I. INTRODUCTION Though often sought to be forgotten, the looting, theft, and destruction of cultural property plays an innate, and perhaps uncomfortable, role in Spain's domestic history. From colonial looting of gold and codices to the confiscation of property from Jews and Muslims during the Spanish Inquisition, 1 it is without dispute that these illicit acts of plunder are a pernanent stain on the history of the Spanish Empire. Although often perceived as primitive events or conducted during a time where the laws of armed conflict served more as a suggestion rather than a mandatory practice, it is nevertheless incumbent on modem scholars to recognize this previously institutionalized practice during times of armed conflict. Modem scholarship regarding plunder and restitution of cultural property primarily focuses on World War II-era confiscations.2 Scholarly developments in this jurisprudential area have not only spurred widespread codification of international policy towards restitution of Nazi-looted art, but have also illuminated the need for analogous solutions for cultural property plundered during similar times of armed conflict. One such example of this need is property taken during the Spanish Civil War, which occasioned vast plunder and destruction of art and cultural property from 1936 to 1939. Perhaps the most notoriously devastating attack on cultural heritage during the Spanish Civil War was the looting of thousands of documents, * J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 2015; M.A. Twentieth Century Spanish Art from New York University Institute of Fine Arts. I wish to express gratitude to Dean Leticia Diaz, Ana Luisa Solis Escobosa, Taylor Holmes, and Candy Heller for their invaluable comments regarding this article, although any errors or omissions are purely my own. I also wish to thank Dr. Norbert Baer for his valued guidance with the initial conception of this article. A draft of this article was presented at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Conference Cultural Heritage Work in Progress August 1, 2019. Thank you to those who offered comments and feedback. IDuring the Spanish Inquisition, the Spaniards confiscated an extraordinary number of Jewish and Islamic property from those refusing to convert to Catholicism. The number of properties seized and destroyed is unknown, but generally accepted to be in large quantity. For a detailed history of this period, see HENRY CHARLES LEA, A HISTORY OF THE INQUISITION OF SPAIN (1907). Michelina Restaino, The 1492 Jewish Expulsion from Spain: How Identity Politics and Economics Converged, University Honors Program Theses. 325 (2018). 2 Understandably so, as the devastating years of combat and occupation during World War II resulted in the greatest displacement of cultural property in modern history. For a full discussion of the vast plunder and destruction that occurred during World War II see LYNN NICHOLAS, THE RAPE OF EUROPA (1994).

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