Nazi loot carries a legacy of detest. The latest ownership dispute over a Constable portray,claimed by the heirs of British Jews – reminds us that respect is at the heart of the restitution debateMemory has many colours. A work of art that survives the centuries is an embodiment of history, marked invisibly by all the hands that occupy held it. Who owned it? Where did it hang? These are not just arcane questions for scholars but the network of human experience that haunts works of art in museums and makes them richly alive. The hunt for works of art looted by the Nazis matters. Researchers who discover the true owners of a portray stolen in wartime Europe and later acquired innocently or knowingly by a museum or gallery are piecing together shadowy stories of oppression, and injustice,murder and destruction. Why did the Nazis loot art from Jewish owners? It was not only greedbut an ideological belief that Jews contributed nothing to European civilisation and did not deserve to share in it. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com