Dr Cieślińska-Lobkowicz writes about the double standard in Poland which talks of the necessity for provenance research, supervision of the art market, and the implementation of restitution procedures in other countries, within the context of the Polish authorities’ efforts to recover looted art taken out of Poland. However, as concerns collections in Polish institutions, Poland avoids facing the same questions. What is never mentioned by the Polish authorities is the fact that after the war, national institutions and private individuals often became the new owners of objects that had once belonged to private people or organizations persecuted by the Nazis. In the majority of cases, this affected Jewish individuals, Jewish communities and Jewish institutions. She writes that this 'attitude of silence contradicts the 1998 Washington Conference Principles, confirmed by the Terezín Declaration in 2009. It prevails despite the fact that Poland has signed both documents and benefits from them in cases of foreign restitutions'.
To read her paper, click here.