Feb. 28




FRANCE:

France offers to loan art stolen from Jews during Holocaust


France has proposed loaning to the Israel Museum hundreds of works of art
stolen from Jews during the Holocaust, a group of French MPs and diplomats
told Minister of Diaspora and Jerusalem Affairs Natan Sharansky last week.

Among the works are Monet's "Women in the Park," Renoir's "Portrait of
William Sisley" and other 19th century masterpieces.

The delegation told Sharansky that the National Museum Authority of France
is completing a list of works that are presumed to have been owned by
Jews, but have no documentation or legal heirs. A French Embassy spokesman
confirmed to Haaretz that the list is nearing completion and will be
presented to the Israeli authorities. The Israel Museum will then
reportedly be able to choose any item for long-term loan. However, Israel
Museum director James Schneider believes only a small number of the works
will be worthy of display.

In 1995, a secret report of the French State Ombudsman found that some
2,000 works of art were in the possession of France's national museums,
including paintings, sketches, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, and
other items. The items were presumed confiscated from Jews by Nazis and
members of the Vichy regime during World War II.

In 1997, the report was leaked to the press, arousing a storm in the
French Jewish community.

Shortly thereafter, a commission of inquiry was established and it
presented its findings in April 2000 to then prime minister Lionel Jospin.
The report, which also dealt with real estate, bank accounts, and
insurance policies stolen from the Jews during the Holocaust, noted that
more than 100,000 works of art had been confiscated by the Nazis and
French collaborators. Only 61,233 items were returned to the French
authorities after the war. Of those, 45,441 items were returned to their
owners or heirs, and 13,500 items, estimated of low value, were sold in
1954 by the French state custodian. However, 2,000 works of art, defined
as masterpieces, were transferred to the National Museum Authority.

Most of those were kept in the basements of various museums, although - to
the embarrassment of the French government - the report revealed that
dozens of items went on display in government offices.

Jospin admitted in a 1999 interview that nine confiscated pictures were on
display in his official residence. Prior to the interview, Jospin ordered
an original copy of Rodin's "Thinker" removed from his home after it was
realized it was stolen Jewish property.

Museum director Schneider confirmed that negotiations with the French
National Museums Authority have been underway for the last few months. "I
believe that most of the items will not be of interest to us," Schneider
noted. "We will be borrowing only those works that have unusual artistic,
historic, or other special value from a French-Jewish perspective."

(source: Haaretz)




USA:

Granholm signs bill to create day to remember Holocaust victims, survivors
February 26, 2004, 1:35 PM


LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Thursday signed
legislation that creates a Holocaust Remembrance Day in Michigan to honor
victims, survivors, rescuers and liberators.

The day will fall on April 18 this year, but will rotate as it follows the
Hebrew calendar, which is based on 19-year cycles.

Holocaust Remembrance Day will be May 5 next year, April 25 in 2006, April
15 in 2007, May 1 in 2008, April 21 in 2009, and April 11 in 2010.

April 19, 1943 is a key date in the history of the Holocaust. It was the
beginning of the Warsaw ghetto uprising when Jews, using homemade bombs
and stolen weapons, resisted death camp deportation by the Nazis for 27
days.

The term Holocaust refers to the killing of 6 million of Europe's 9
million Jews during the 1933-45 regime of German leader Adolf Hitler.

Rep. Marc Shulman, R-West Bloomfield, introduced the bill.

"The Holocaust was one of the darkest moments in the history of mankind.
We must never forget," said Shulman, who is Jewish.

Granholm said she was honored to sign the bill creating Holocaust
Remembrance Day.

"I encourage Michigan citizens to set aside Holocaust Remembrance Day and
the Days of Remembrance as time to reflect on the need to be vigilant
against hatred, intolerance, and tyranny today based on the lessons of the
past," she said in a news release.

The bill creating the Holocaust Remembrance Day is House Bill 4276.

(source: Detroit Free Press)