HOLOCAUST ART RESTITUTION: DUTCH RETURN PAINTINGS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 000265

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EUR/OHI(BECKER),EUR/UBI

E.O. 12356: N/A
TAGS: KNAR PHUM SOCI NL
SUBJECT: HOLOCAUST ART RESTITUTION: DUTCH RETURN PAINTINGS
FROM FAMED GOUDSTIKKER COLLECTION

REF: ENSTROM-BECKER EMAILS


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. In a historic move, the Dutch
government announced on February 6 the return of 202 of some
of the greatest Dutch, Flemish, and Italian paintings to the
heirs of Jacques Goudstikker, a Dutch Jewish art collector
and dealer who fled the Netherlands during World War II.
While the decision will affect collections in many of the
Netherlands' leading museums, State Secretary for Culture
van der Laan defended the decision as the right thing to do.
The Embassy played a supporting role in the final decision-
making process by reinforcing with key GONL contacts the
importance of upholding internationally recognized
principles of holocaust art restitution and the use of
alternative dispute mechanisms (such as the Dutch
Restitution Commission) to reach settlements in such cases.
END SUMMARY.

A LONG CAMPAIGN
--------------


2. (U) On February 6, Dutch State Secretary for Culture,
Education and Science (MinCul) van der Laan announced that
the Dutch government would return 202 of the 267 works of
art claimed by American Citizen Marei von Saher-Langebein.
The announcement supports a December 19 decision by the
Advisory Committee on the Assessment of Restitution
Applications for Items of Cultural Value and the Second
World War (Restitution Committee). Von Saher-Langebein is
the widow of Eduard van Saher, the only son and sole heir of
the Dutch Jewish art collector Jacques Goudstikker.
Goudstikker was the sole managing director and principal
shareholder of the trading stock of the Goudstikker Gallery,
one of the most important art dealerships in the Netherlands
during the period between the two World Wars with an
estimated 1,113 works of art. After Goudstikker fled the
Netherlands in 1940 and died on board a ship en route to
safety, his staff sold the entire property (art works,
buildings, and land) of the trading stock, mainly to Germans
Alois Miedl and Hermaan Goering, under disputable
circumstances.


3. (U) The decision marks the end of an eight-year
campaign by von Saher-Langebein to regain the art works that
were returned to the Netherlands after World War II and
retained by the Dutch Government as part of its National
Collection. Both the Dutch Government and the Court of
Appeals of The Hague had rejected earlier claims. Of the
267 works of art, the Restitution Committee determined that
there was evidence to support von Saher's claims to 206 of
these paintings. Four of the paintings are missing and
cannot be returned at this time, although they do still
qualify for restitution according to the Restitution
Committee. An estimated 1,000 works from the Goudstikker
Collection are still missing.
(See www.restitutiecommissie.nl/advies for further
background on the case and the decision.)


4. (U) The decision to return the paintings will affect
the collections in several of the Netherlands' leading
museums, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the
Mauritshuis in The Hague, the Frans Hals Museum near
Haarlem, the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam,
and, especially, the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht. The
works include paintings by Jan Steen, Filippo Lippi, Anthony
Van Dyck, Salomon van Ruysdael, Jan Mostaert, and Jan van
Goyen. According to the MinCul, these museums will not
receive compensation for their loss of the paintings.


5. (U) The Dutch government established in 2001 a
committee of eminent jurists (The Pollack Commission) to
research the provenance of disputed objects and advise the
MinCul on claims regarding art/decorative objects restituted
to the Netherlands after World War II (the so-called NK
Collection). The committee issued its advice on the basis
of government guidelines (Ekkart Committee guidelines)
designed to translate international holocaust art principles
into a specific Dutch context. The work of this committee
ended in 2004 and a Restitution Committee was established to
advise on any future cases. Upon the agreement of both the
claimant and the current possessor, this committee can act
as the arbitrator in resolving ownership cases. Since
January 2002, the committee has received 41 cases and issued
advice in 22 of these cases.

THE RIGHT THING TO DO
--------------


6. (SBU) When announcing the decision to the press, State
Secretary van der Laan noted that it was a morally correct

SIPDIS
action, despite the "bloodletting" that it would entail for
many Dutch museums. The decision also did not come easily,
however, as Justice Minister Donner, at the last minute,
tried to delay a final February 3 Cabinet approval of the
Restitution Committee's recommendation.


7. (SBU) Throughout the final days of the decision-making
process, the Embassy remained in close contact with
representatives of von Saher-Langebein, the Justice
Ministry, and the MinCul to reinforce the importance of
upholding internationally recognized principles of holocaust
art restitution and the use of alternative dispute
mechanisms (such as the Restitution Commission) to reach
settlements in such cases. In a February 7 conversation,
MinCul contacts said they would be calling von Saher-
Langebein's lawyers to arrange a meeting in the near future
with State Secretary van der Laan to discuss next steps in
the return of the art works.

BLAKEMAN