Still Seeing Red: Legal Remedies for Post-communist Russia's Continued Refusal to Relinquish Art Stolen During World War Ii
| Citation | Vol. 12 No. 2 |
| Publication year | 2009 |
I. Introduction
When the Red Army entered Germany at the end of World War II, it seized 2.3 million objects including paintings, sculptures, and other works of art.(fn1) At the time of this writing in 2009, the bulk of those objects are still in Russia.(fn2) In addition to hundreds of thousands of pieces that belonged to German citizens and German museums the Russians hold paintings that the Nazis had stolen from all over Europe.(fn3) Many of the works in question have been kept in locked rooms in the basements of museums since the end of the war.(fn4) Although there were some encouraging signs that the art might be returned, or at least allowed to be displayed, with the end of the communist government, it does not appear that Russia is considering a large scale return of the art at this time.(fn5) To the contrary, the Russian government has long held that the art is restitution for the destruction and theft of Russian art by the Nazis, and passed a law in 1998 that declares that the art is state property.(fn6) This article explores the international legal remedy for procuring that art from the Russian government. "[U]ntil every one of those paintings, prints, sculptures, tapestries, and artifacts is returned, it will be impossible for us to walk through most of the world's museums and galleries without wondering if we are staring into the haunted face of the spoils of war."(fn7) At the outset, a conclusion: favorable verdicts are obtainable, but the successful conclusion of litigation will only be the beginning of the exceedingly difficult task of enforcing a verdict against an obstinate and neo-nationalistic Russian government.
II. Background: Art and War
Art theft and war have been entwined throughout history. Napoleon was driven to terrorize Europe and the Middle East for decades "as much by a desire to collect statues and other relics as by the idea of military subjugation."(fn8) Significantly in the context of this paper, the Prussians forcibly took back art stolen by France after Napoleon was defeated.(fn9) Not that Napoleon was unique in his lust for art - Britain, Spain, and the other European powers were just as infatuated with it during their various campaigns.(fn10) Neither should this connection be thought of as something that is relegated to the pages of distant history; as recently as 2003, Iraqis looted their own museums after the fall of Saddam Hussein.(fn11) In fact, even the 9/11 hijackers considered financing their attacks with money raised by selling art stolen from Afghanistan.(fn12) "So if criminals used to let news about fine art pass them by - convicts generally aren't likely to be subscribers to The Art Newspaper - the record prices trumpeted over the last few decades from the front pages of newspapers around the world had a way of making even the hardened philistines salivate at the sight of a pretty picture."(fn13) One such picture, Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man, is worth roughly $100 million and has been lost since World War II.(fn14)
III. Art and World War II
Art theft, like so many other vile acts, was perfected in World War II. That war destroyed much of the world's great art, and displaced most of what was left. Many paintings were stolen more than once, as governments and private individuals used the war as an opportunity to rob destabilized nations of their artistic wealth. Thousands of the Europe's most important art works, that define its culture and civilization, remain missing to this day.(fn15) "Art defines our societies, outlines our aspirations, shows us ways of seeing the world that science never could. When a painting goes missing, we all lose a piece of our common heritage."(fn16)
Countless stories of mystery and disaster resulted from this chapter of art history. For example, art has become a form of currency in the criminal underworld,(fn17) with Interpol ranking art theft as the third most lucrative criminal enterprise in the world after only drugs and arms trafficking.(fn18) Or there is the Nazi decree that certain styles of painting were illegal, a law they enforced by having officers go into the houses of suspected artists and sniff the air for tell-tale smells of paint.(fn19) And what could be more bizarre than the four small watercolor paintings that the U.S. government has kept locked away in the basement of an Army building since seizing them shortly after the war - paintings it still considers too incendiary and dangerous for the public to view.(fn20)
A. The Nazis
1. An artistic bent
In pre-war Austria, an 18-year-old boy applied to Vienna's Academy of the Arts, where he hoped to study painting. He was rejected, twice,(fn21) and when he turned to writing somewhat later in life, he described the experience: "[t]hat gentleman (the rector) assured me that the drawings I had submitted incontrovertibly showed my unfitness for painting."(fn22) The proceeds of that book, not surprisingly, he used to start a private art collection that would become one of the largest in the world.(fn23) He continued to paint despite this discouraging evaluation of his skill, and earned a living selling postcards and watercolors for a short time.(fn24) Four of his watercolors are now housed in a drawer in the basement of a U.S. Army installation, and have been there since they were seized by American forces shortly after the war.(fn25) They have been valued at $8 million by a federal court.(fn26) Apparently, the U.S. government still considers the watercolors too horrible to expose to the public.(fn27) The artist that created these paintings was Adolf Hitler, and the book mentioned earlier in this paragraph was Mein Kampf.(fn28)
2.Steal and hoard
The Nazis were so obsessed with art they listed pieces that they wanted to steal before they invaded other countries, and they emptied many of the museums of Europe. At the end of the war, they had amassed 10.7 million stolen objects, including 600,000 art works(fn29) and hidden them in castles, bunkers and mine shafts across Germany.(fn30) An estimated 100,000 of those works are still missing.(fn31) "Art was part of [Hitler's] political message."(fn32) Not only did the Nazis seek to steal what they found appealing, but they also stole art that had value as propaganda.(fn33) They sometimes went through convoluted leaps of logic to claim that works of art were "Germanic",(fn34) and used the supposed superiority of their art as proof of their superiority over other people.(fn35) All the party leaders had art collections, and tried to use them to exert cultural influence.(fn36) Hitler initiated a yearly Day of German Art, when average citizens came to view favorable portrayals of German culture.(fn37) Hitler had intended to collect the greatest art from across Europe, and bring it all together in a massive museum in Linz.(fn38) Indeed, the German hunger for art was even greater than their hatred of the Jews, as Jews could sometimes buy their own lives by giving valuable paintings.(fn39) "How they could retain the nicety of appreciation of great art and be exterminating millions of people nearby in concentration camps I couldn't understand it then and I still can't understand it today."(fn40)
3. Purge
When the Nazis came to power, they banned virtually all modern art, including Impressionist, Cubist, Expressionist, and Surrealist.(fn41) It was illegal for many artists to paint and Nazi officers would go into the homes of artists and smell the air to see if anyone was breaking the law.(fn42) The members of the Berlin Fire Department were the last people to look at many masterpieces of modern art.(fn43) Moreover, at the end of the war, as the Nazis realized that the Allies were going to recapture art that they had stolen, they attempted to destroy art works they considered to be valuable. In one case, a hoard of stolen paintings was hidden in a salt mine, and the Nazis attempted to sneak crates of explosives labeled "Marble - Don't Drop" into the mine. U.S. troops put out the fuses just in time to save hidden artistic treasures.(fn44)
B. The Russians
1. As host to the Nazis
The Russian people initially greeted German troops as liberators from Stalin, but the German hatred for Russians and their culture swiftly became apparent.(fn45) When the Red Army finally pushed the Nazis out of their country, it was revealed that many of the Russian museums had been totally stripped of precious holdings. What the Nazis did not choose to steal, they often destroyed.(fn46) The Nazis burned original Tolstoy's manuscripts in the author's own stove,(fn47)(fn48) In 2009, Russia posted a list of 46,000 artworks that it claims are still missing as a result of Nazi thievery.(fn49) and destroyed Tchaikovsky manuscripts before turning the composer's house into a motorcycle repair garage.
If there is a single symbol of Nazi theft and destruction in Russia, it is the Amber Room from the Catherine Palace. Built out of six tons of amber and measuring five hundred square feet, it was considered by some to be the eighth wonder of the world.(fn50) Commissioned in 1701 by the Prussian king, and given to the Russian emperor, Peter the Great, in 1716,(fn51) the Amber Room was an obvious target for Nazi art looting. The original...
To continue reading
Request your trial