Avoidance and Resolution of Cultural Heritage Disputes: Recovery of Art Looted during the Holocaust
![handle is hein.journals/wildisres14 and id is 247 raw text is: AVOIDANCE AND RESOLUTION OF CULTURAL
HERITAGE DISPUTES: RECOVERY OF ART LOOTED
DURING THE HOLOCAUST
LAWRENCE M. KAYE*
I. Intro duction ................................................................................................. 24 3
II. Litigating Holocaust Artw ork Cases .......................................................... 252
A . Locating the A rtw ork ............................................................................. 253
B. Establishing the Right to M ake a Claim ................................................. 256
C. Passage of Time: The Statute of Limitations .......................................... 258
III. C ase E xam ples ........................................................................................... 26 1
A. United States v. Portrait of Wally .......................................................... 261
B. Republic ofAustria v. Altmann .............................................................. 264
C. Leonard Malewicz et al. v. City of Amsterdam ....................................... 266
D. United States v. Femme en Blanc ........................................................... 266
E. Cassirer v. Kingdom of Spain et al ......................................................... 267
IV . C onclu sion ................................................................................................ 26 8
I. INTRODUCTION
The Nazi art confiscation program has been called the greatest
displacement of art in human history.' The volume of artworks stolen by
the Nazis during World War II from both museums and private
collections throughout Europe is astounding. This wholesale pillaging
* Mr. Kaye is a partner in the New York law firm of Herrick, Feinstein LLP, and the co-
chair of the firm's Art Law Group. Mr. Kaye and his firm have represented foreign
governments, heirs of victims of the Holocaust, families of renowned artists and other
claimants in connection with the recovery of antiquities. Mr. Kaye and his firm currently
represent the heir of Jacques Goudstikker in her efforts to recover Nazi looted art, the heirs of
Kazimir Malevich in Leonard Malewicz, et al. v. City of Amsterdam, 362 F. Supp. 2d 298
(D.D.C. 2005), and the heirs of Lea Bondi in United States v. Portrait of Wally, 2002 U.S.
Dist. LEXIS 6445 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 11, 2002), all of which are discussed in this article and are
currently pending. Mr. Kaye would like to thank the Group's associates, Mari-Claudia Jim~nez
and Frank K. Lord IV, for their assistance in the preparation of this article. This article is based
on remarks delivered by the author at the Cultural Heritage Conference held at Willamette
University on October 14, 2006.
1. See MICHAEL J. BAZYLER, HOLOCAUST JUSTICE: THE BATrLE FOR RESTITUTION IN
AMERICA'S COURTS 202 (N.Y. University Press 2003) [hereinafter BAZYLER].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/wildisres14&div=14&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Avoidance and Resolution of Cultural Heritage Disputes: Recovery of Art Looted during the Holocaust
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