Government Bodies:
The Restitutions Committee
Title
Advisory Committee on the Assessment of Restitution Applications (The Restitutions Committee)
Date established
16 November 2001
Sponsor
The State Secretary of the Netherlands
Description
The Advisory Committee (formerly known as the Polak Committee) was set up by the State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science by order on 16 November 2001 to handle requests for restitution of art objects lost in the Second World War. The Restitutions Committee advises the State Secretary on individual applications for the return of art objects that are now in the possession of the Dutch State. At the request of the State Secretary, it may also make recommendations regarding disputes between private parties about the return of art objects which are not in the possession of the State. The parties to the dispute must submit a joint application to the State Secretary. The Committee is further empowered to make recommendations about the handling of applications submitted in the past. The Committee is chaired by W. J. M Davids and the deputy chair is Professor Inge van der Vlies.
Up until 1 February 2012, 130 applications for restitution were filed and 107 recommendations have been prepared.
A list of the cases heard, the recommendations made and the associated press releases, is provided here.
Latest recommendations 2 February 2012:
Edouard Jonas: Two paintings are to be restituted to the heir.
Adolf Arnhold: A claim for three works of art was rejected.
Aron Hiegentlich: Three ceramic objects are to be restituted to the family. The claim for a fourth ceramic object was rejected.
Simon De Haan: A claim for fourteen works of art was rejected.
To read the press release, click here. To read the full recommendations, see below.
Prior recommendation 2 November 2011:
Dutch Restitutions Committee rejects claim of Robert May heirs
The Dutch Restitutions Committee issued a press release on 2 November 2011 with regard to its recommendation of 19 September 2011 rejecting a claim to some 335 art objects in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and concluding that the case was settled after the war. The objects formerly belonged to Jewish banker and art collector Robert May.
The May collection was confiscated by the Nazi authorities in 1942, and was purchased by the Dutch authorities from the occupying forces in 1944 for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The Restitutions Committee states that during the war, in a gentleman’s agreement, May had already declared to the Rijksmuseum that he would support this sale. The proceeds of the sale eventually went to May. In a written declaration to the Rijksmuseum in 1946, May said that he ‘completely agreed’ with the sale of his collection to the Dutch state.
The Committee regards this statement as ‘one that was made freely to uphold the sale of his collection to the Dutch State during the war,’ as a result of which the sale must now be regarded as legitimate. In its recommendation, the Committee advised the State Secretary to reject the claim, which was submitted by one of May’s successors. The State Secretary decided to adopt the Committee’s recommendation on 26 October 2011.
Click here for the full text of the recommendation
The full list of owners whose heirs have made claims to the Committee (and whose names have been published - many have not) and the advice and recommendations given is set out here:
Friedrich (FBE) and Luise Gutmann
Mr J.H. Gosschalk
The art dealer Cramer
Franz Koenigs
Amsterdam art gallery Vecht
Isaac Goudeket
Jacques Goudstikker
Hartog Koopman
Anne Frank
Arthur Feldmann
Martin Aufhäuser
Milly Antonie von Friedländer-Fuld
Jonas Alexander van Bever
Philipp Brünell
Markus Mayer (Max) Rothstein
Johanna Margaretha Stern-Lippmann
Hugo Felix Kaufmann
Frits Kaufmann and Marie Kaufmann-Parser
Kunsthandel Mozes Mogrobi
Galerie Lemaire (Matthias Ludovicus Joannes Lemaire)
Salomon Anholt, Levie Hakker and Jesaia Hakker
Art dealership Firma Joseph M. Morpurgo
Max Alsberg and Ellinor Käthe Margot Clara Sternberg
Schoontje Goldsteen
Dr. D. van Cappellen
Leopold Salomon and Kätchen Henny Alma Auguste Carstens
Cornelis Maria Leonard ter Laare
Siegfried Paul Daniel May and Rosine Mariane May-Fuld
Franciszek and Czeslaw Letowski
John Jaffé and Anna Emilie Jaffé-Gluge
Marcus de Vries
Israël Z. and Matje Verdoner
Kunsthandel Mossel
Abraham van Leeuwen and Alexander Isaäc van Leeuwen
James Alexandre van Brabant
Firma S. van Messel and dealership J. van Messel of Amsterdam
Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer
Ernst Flersheim
Hugo and Alice Lachmann
Ernst Flersheim
Art dealership J. Stodel
Art dealership A. Staal
Art dealership Levie Rubens
F. H. von Podwinetz
George Eduard Behrens
Dotsch
Jacques Goudstikker
Robert May
Weijers
Dr Sigmund Wassermann
Kurt Bachstitz
Ernst Paul Caesar Heinrich Proehl
Albert Heppner
Abraham Adelsberger
Catalina Von Pannwitz-Roth
Max Cassirer
Amsterdam art dealer Carel van Lier
Leo Nardus
Hans Ludwig Larsen
Richard Semmel
Art dealership Nathan Katz
Kurt Bachstitz
Art dealership Moritz Schönemann
Wilhelm Mautner
Eduard Hollander
Daniel Wolf
Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer
Max Stern
Samuel van den Bergh and Daniel Wolf
Joseph Stodel
Hartog Zadick and Betje van Gelder
Saemy Rosenberg
Fritz Gutmann
Curt Glaser
Mathiason
Rosenbaum
Fritz Gutmann
Otto Mayer
Fritz Gutmann
Louis Morpurgo
Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer
Robert May
Simon De Haan
Aron Hiegentlich
Adolf Arnhold
Edouard Jonas
In addition, the Committee has published Annual Reports which are available below:
2002 This annual report includes the history and working practices of the Restitutions Committee, the Parliamentary documents about the foundation of the committee, and information about the five cases dealt with by the committee in 2002. The appendices contain the text of the Decree Establishing the Advisory Committee on the Assessment of Restitution Applications and of the recommendations.
2003 This annual report includes information about the seven cases the Restitutions Committee made recommendations for in 2003. In the appendices are the text of the recommendations, the 'Recommendations Concerning the Art Trade' of the Ekkart Committee, and the response of the government to these.
2004 This annual report includes excerpts from the cases in which the Committee made recommendations in the course of the year, information on the (re)appointing of the members of the Restitutions Committee and explanatory notes on the final recommendations of the Ekkart Committee. In the appendices are the text of the recommendations, the decree (re)appointing members of the Restitutions Committee, the final recommendations of the Ekkart Committee and some media reports.
2005 This annual report includes information about the six cases the Restitutions Committee made recommendations for in 2005. From page 33 onwards is a summary of the Goudstikker recommendation.
2006 In addition to the usual discussion of the recommendations issued by the Committee – 12 in total in 2006 – the 2006 report also contains information on the Committee’s restitution procedure and the events that took place in the field of restitutions in 2006.
2007 This annual report includes details of claims and recommendations made in the course of 2007.
Details of the claims procedure
In order to make claims concerning an object in Dutch State possession, or for recommendations on a dispute, contact:
The Minister of Education, Culture and Science
Ministry of OCW
P.O. Box 16375
2500 BJ The Hague
The Netherlands
The State Secretary forwards claims applications to the Restitutions Committee which is bound to investigate the matter. After completing its investigations, the Committee makes recommendations and the State Secretary makes his decision. If the decision is made to return the art object, the actual transfer to the applicant then takes place. Full details of the procedure are set out at http://www.restitutiecommissie.nl/en/restitutieverzoek_indienen.html.
The Restitutions Committee's own description of itself and the list of its members are set out below:
"Many people lost works of art in the Netherlands during the Second World War. Paintings by well-known and less well-known artists fell into the hands of the Nazis, either because they were confiscated or because the owners were forced to sell them. After the war, countless precious works of art embarked on odysseys through various countries. Despite post-war restitutions, a fairly substantial collection of the works that were returned to the Netherlands remained in the National Art Collection.
From the 1990s onwards, national and international concern grew for the di
