Update: More on the Holocaust Assets

Catherine Hickley of Bloomberg is reporting that chief US negotiator in Prague is favoring a US panel to help and assist families who were victims and systematically looted of art and property by the Nazi regime. The chief US negotiator is Stuart Eizenstat and he would like to see a US panel that might act in the manner of an arbitration panel over disputed ownership and equitable settlements. Eizenstat believe the current system, which is typically the US court handling the disputes takes far too long. I would also add if the litigation takes a long time, then the cost in settling the claims through the US courts would also be a factor. Eizenstat has also stated that museums have initially taken a positive outlook to a review panel, which could be a requirement before moving disputes into the US courts.

Hicley reports “No general claims resolution has been set up for dealing with Nazi art claims, and claims are mostly dealt with on an ad hoc basis that requires claimants ultimately to go through courts,” the Jewish Claims Conference said in a report. The claims body was reporting to the Prague meeting on how far countries have made good on their Washington pledges.

“Some museums have started to file suits against claimants to ‘quiet title,’ thereby invoking technical legal defenses in order to avoid restituting objects and compelling claimants to spend large sums in legal fees,” the report said.

Eizenstat, a partner at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, said the model for a U.S. panel could be the U.K. Spoliation Advisory Panel, founded to resolve disputes about art lost in the Nazi era that is now held in British museums. He said such a panel may be a mandatory step before museums and claimants can consider lawsuits.

“This is going to take a lot of work and a lot of massaging,” Eizenstat said. “Is it advisory, it is mandatory? Will it require congressional action or can it be done administratively? Those are things we need to work out but I am absolutely convinced that it needs to be done.”

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