[MSN] Israel Museum launches site for works stolen in WWII

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Israel Museum launches site for works stolen in WWII


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Etgar Lefkovits , THE JERUSALEM POST  Aug. 26, 2007 

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The Israel Museum has launched an on-line catalogue of works of art and
Judaica looted during World War II and given to the museum after the war,
the museum announced Sunday. 

The Jerusalem museum houses several hundred works stolen during the
Holocaust that either have no record of prior ownership or came from
institutions that did not survive the war. 

The property was originally given to the Bezalel National Museum, the Israel
Museum's predecessor, by the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization,
which was charged with reclaiming stolen Jewish property and which
transferred many works of art and Judaica to Jewish institutions in Israel
and around the world. 

The works were subsequently moved to the Israel Museum in 1965, when the
museum was founded. 

The on-line catalogue - accessible on the Israel Museum's Web site,
www.imj.org.il - provides information on paintings, drawings and Judaica
objects, and includes images, titles of works, names of artists (if known),
countries of origin (if known), dimensions and other identifying
characteristics. 

The Web site, which is entitled World War II Provenance Research On-line,
was launched in cooperation with the newly-established Company for Location
and Restitution of Holocaust Victims' Assets in Israel, which had pressured
the museum and other public institutions in Israel to publicize the
information in accordance with the law. 

Avraham Roet, head of the restitution organization, praised the museum on
Sunday for fully acceding to the request to list the information after
initially balking at the move. 

"This is a major moral accomplishment for the state of Israel," said Roet, a
Holocaust survivor. 

Roet said that this was the first time that a Jewish museum was searching
for heirs for artwork stolen in the Holocaust and given to Jewish
organizations after the war. 

The new Web site provides instructions for requesting property restitution.


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