Nov. 29



USA:

High court declines to hear fight over Hitler art
U.S. Army may keep art watercolors seized after World War II


The Supreme Court let stand Monday a lower court ruling allowing the U.S.
Army to keep four watercolors painted by Adolf Hitler that were seized in
Germany after World War II.

Without comment, the justices turned aside a challenge by the family of
late German photographer Heinrich Hoffmann Sr., which had sought either
the return of the paintings as well as 2.5 million photographs -- or
millions of dollars in damages.

The watercolors include street scenes and war landscapes painted before
and during World War I. U.S. forces discovered them in 1945, not long
after Hitler committed suicide, in a German castle where Hoffmann had
stored them during the war.

Hoffmann's family contended the photographer was a victim of wartime art
pillaging and that the seizure of the paintings as well as 2.5 million
photographs violated their constitutional rights. The U.S. government
countered that the photos and paintings were Nazi art that was confiscated
to "de-Nazify Germany."

The court's action appears to lay to rest a nearly 20-year battle
involving the government, Hoffmann relatives and Texas art investor Billy
F. Price, who bought rights to the works. The latest challenge involved a
technical issue that brought the case back to the high court after
justices refused to hear an initial appeal in 2002.

The Army keeps the paintings in government storage in Alexandria,
Virginia.

The case is Hoffmann v. U.S., case no. 04-425.

(source: Associated Press)






FRANCE:

France opens probe into Holocaust doubter

French prosecutors say they are opening a judicial investigation into
comments by a leading far-right politician who questions whether the
Nazis used gas chambers in the Holocaust.

Justice Minister Dominique Perben called for the inquiry after Bruno
Gollnisch, a professor of Japanese at the University of Lyon, questioned
how the gas chambers were used in the wartime slaughter of Jews and how
many Jews were killed.

Prosecutors in the southern city of Lyon said the investigation would
focus on "denying crimes against humanity". France anti-racism laws have
made denying the Holocaust a crime, punishable by fines and even prison.

Prosecutors last month had already opened a preliminary investigation into
the comments by Gollnisch, a European deputy who is also the number two
man in the National Front party of extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Gollnisch told a news conference last month he recognised gas chambers had
existed but said he thought historians still had to decide whether they
were actually used to kill Jews.

He called for an open debate about whether the total number of Jews killed
in the Holocaust was actually 6 million as stated.

The CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organisations has publicly
condemned Gollnisch's comments, and European Parliament head Josep Borrell
said the European assembly would not tolerate such a statement.

Gollnisch, who studied law and political science at Kyoto University in
Japan, holds a chair for Japanese language and civilisation at the Lyon
university named after Jean Moulin -- the hero of the French Resistance
murdered by the Nazis in 1943.

(source: Reuters)





ISRAEL:

Knesset c'tee finds 4,500 Holocaust victims bank accounts


The Parliamentary Inquiry Committee for the Location and Restitution of
Assets of Holocaust Victims' report is due to accept Bank Leumi's main
claim that it no longer holds any accounts of Holocaust victims.


The Parliamentary Inquiry Committee for the Location and Restitution of
Assets of Holocaust Victims believes that 4,500 bank accounts of victims
have not yet been claimed by their heirs. The Custodian General holds
almost all the accounts, with only a few still at the banks.

The report of the committee, chaired by MK Colette Avital (Labor), is now
almost completed, with only insubstantial wording left to be finalized.
The consultancy committee, headed by Adv. Zvi Barak, has completed its
work and submitted its recommendations to the Inquiry Committee. The
recommendations will be the basis for the Inquiry Committee's report and
proposed legislation.

The report is due to accept Bank Leumi's (TASE:LUMI) main claim that it no
longer holds any accounts of Holocaust victims. Bank Leumi claims that the
bank accounts of Jews from Germany, its allies, and occupied countries,
were transferred to the British Mandate Custodian of Enemy Property, under
Mandatory law.

Half of the 4,500 bank accounts located by the Inquiry Committee were
originally opened at Bank Leumi (then called Anglo-Palestine Bank), and
the others at Barclay's Bank (NYSE:BCS; LSE:BARC) branches in Israel (now
Mercantile Discount Bank), United Mizrahi Bank (TASE:MZRH) and other
banks.

However, the Inquiry Committee wants to impose part of the financial
responsibility on the banks, because the committee decided that banks
should pay the difference on the accounts for the period between the
opening of the accounts and their transfer to the British Mandate
Custodian of Enemy Property.

The Inquiry Committee will recommend that any heirs of the
account-holders, if found, should receive the accounts' deposits, plus
linkage and 4% annual interest. On the basis of this formula, the
aggregate real value of the 4,500 accounts is several hundred million
shekels, of which the state will have to pay an estimated 55-60%. The
Inquiry Committee was told that the heirs to most of the accounts could be
found, since the Custodian General's files supposed to include the
pertinent information.

(source: Globes Online)




SCOTLAND:

Burrell painting looted by Nazis


A painting in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow was looted from its Jewish
owners during the Nazi era and must be returned, officials have declared.
Le Pat de Jambon, attributed to the artist Chardin, was acquired "in good
faith" for the collection established by shipping owner William Burrell.

However, advisers to the Department For Culture Media and Sport said it
was seized from an auction house in 1936.

They want it returned to the claimants, who wish to remain anonymous.

Responding to the findings of the Spoliation Advisory Panel, Arts Minister
Estelle Morris said: "It is important that questions of ownership arising
from the terrible events of the Nazi era are resolved.

"I believe that the panel's recommendation is the most appropriate way to
proceed.

"The panel have thoroughly examined the claim and I am persuaded by the
arguments put forward by the panel."

The Scottish Culture Minister, Patricia Ferguson, said it would be up to
Glasgow City Council to resolve the matter.

Wine and glasses

The collection of 9,000 works of art was gifted to the city of Glasgow in
1944 by the shipping magnate.

However, the call to hand over the work presents a problem for the
collection.

It has strict rules stating that nothing can be sold, donated or parted
with.

While its fate is decided, the 18th century painting of wine glasses and
pat remains unseen in storage.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: "We welcome the fact that this
report has now been issued.

"We are, however, disappointed that the matter cannot be immediately
resolved because of the need for further investigation into the
restrictions placed upon the council by the terms of the Burrell bequest.

Sioux shirt

"This council has always been very open in our processing of requests for
return of objects in our collection, with the Lakota Sioux Ghost Dance
Shirt and the return of human remains to the Maori community in New
Zealand being prime examples."

A panel was set up by Arts Minister Alan Howarth in 2000 to trace the
ownership of art allegedly seized from Jewish owners before and during the
Holocaust.

The Burrell Collection was subject to review because William Burrell did
business with British and European dealers during the 1930s.

It is believed Burrell would have been unaware of the dubious history of
the work.

(source: BBC News)