Most Important Documents Regulating the Issue of the Restitution of Cultural Goods during World War II and Their Impact on the Development of Restitution
Most Important Documents Regulating the Issue of the Restitution of Cultural Goods during World War II and Their Impact on the Development of Restitution

Author(s): Anna Mazur
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, History of Art, Administrative Law
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: looted art; principles of the restitution; restitution; World War II
Summary/Abstract: During the war, numerous declarations were made to indicate the direction in which downward restitution should develop. The first legal act that comprehensively regulated the issue of restitution after World War II was the Law No. 59 (10 November 1947) on the restitution of identifiable assets in the American zone of occupation of Germany. Pursuant to it, in the course of the recovery proceedings, a presumption was used related to the confiscation, which could be rebutted by counter-evidence. Thus, the burden of proof was shifted to the owner of the cultural property, who had to prove that he had acquired the object legally and in accordance with bona fides. Subsequent legal acts regulating the restitution of cultural goods were of a more abstract nature and did not contain such detailed provisions. However, the issue of the restitution of cultural property after World War II is still a matter of law. The aim of the article is to look at what influence these acts had on the later development of restitution.

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