Between emotion and seriousness, the National Assembly unanimously voted on Tuesday, January 25, a bill for the restitution of 15 works of art, including a painting by Gustav Klimt and another by Marc Chagall, to the beneficiaries of Jewish families despoiled by the Nazis.

It must be definitively adopted by the Senate on February 15.

Faced with these rights holders, present in the gallery, the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot welcomed this text validated to applause by 97 votes.

The spoliation was "the negation of humanity (of these Jewish families), of their memory, of their memories", underlined the minister, in unison with speakers from all political groups.

From left to right, the parliamentarians welcomed a "just action" with these restitutions, which should be "accelerated".

The minister said she was in favor of an upcoming "framework law" to allow it, while pointing out "the complexity of the files".

"Historical"

Among the 15 works is "Rosiers under the trees" by Gustav Klimt, kept at the Musée d'Orsay, and the only work by the Austrian painter belonging to the French national collections.

It was acquired in 1980 by the State from a merchant.

Extensive research has established that it belonged to the Austrian Éléonore Stiasny who sold it during a forced sale in Vienna in 1938, during the Anschluss, before being deported and murdered.

Eleven drawings and a waxwork kept at the Louvre Museum, the Orsay Museum and the Museum of the Château de Compiègne as well as a painting by Utrillo kept at the Utrillo-Valadon Museum ("Carrefour à Sannois") are also part of the planned restitutions. . 

A painting by Chagall, entitled "Le Père", kept at the Center Pompidou and entered the national collections in 1988, has been added.

It was recognized as the property of David Cender, a Polish-Jewish musician and luthier, who immigrated to France in 1958.

For 13 of the 15 works, the beneficiaries were identified by the Commission for the Compensation of Victims of Spoliation (CIVS), created in 1999.

Roselyne Bachelot mentioned a "historic" bill: "it is the first time since the post-war period that the government has introduced a text allowing the restitution of works from public collections" which were "looted during the Second World War worldwide or acquired in troubled conditions during the Occupation due to anti-Semitic persecutions".

100,000 works seized

Some 100,000 works of art were seized in France during the 1939-1945 war, according to the Ministry of Culture.

Around 60,000 goods were found in Germany at the Liberation and sent back to France.

Of these, 45,000 were returned to their owners between 1945 and 1950.

About 2,200 were selected and entrusted to the custody of national museums ("MNR" works that can be returned by simple administrative decision) and the rest (about 13,000 objects) were sold by the administration of the Domains in the early 1950s Many looted works have thus returned to the art market.

With AFP

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