Artworks stolen by Nazis found in Belgian museums

More than 300 artworks stolen by the Nazis from Belgians during the Second World War and never returned to their original owners or their descendants are now in the possession of local museums, including the Fine Arts Museums of Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent, according to an investigation by De Standaard. 

The newspaper based its findings on the addendum to a report drawn up in 2008 in connection with restitution claims made by the Jewish community in Belgium. The addendum was never published.

The artworks are among thousands plundered by the Nazis during the Occupation, usually from Jews forced to emigrate or deported. The works went to Germany, but, after the war, successive Belgian governments made an effort to retrieve stolen works. About 1,150 works were recovered – far fewer than those recovered in the Netherlands, at 6,891, or France with a massive 30,207.

Most of the returned works came into the possession of the state, with about one-third being sold in a series of auctions, which raised 3.3 million francs (about €82,500) for the public treasury. Another 639, including works by Jacob Jordaens, Hans Memling, Lucas Cranache and Pieter Breughel, were given homes in 15 museums.

Along with the fine arts museums, works are being held in the collections of the Groeninghuis museum in Bruges and the Rubenshuis in Antwerp. One example is the painting “The Village Lawyer” by Breughel the Younger in Ghent (pictured). Other works include Chinese, Roman, Greek and Islamic objects held by Brussels’ Royal Museums of Art and History.

According to one expert, not enough was done post-war to track down the owners of the works or more likely their surviving descendants. Then as now, the federal government relies on those whose property is concerned to come forward with a claim.

“After the war, it would have been possible to find better solutions” than handing the works out to local museums, said Antwerp University history professor Herman Van Goethe, who is also conservator of Mechelen’s Holocaust museum. “The rightful owners could have been more actively sought,” he told De Standaard. “The very least that can be done now is for full information to be made public, and if there are claims, there is jurisprudence on which we can base decisions.”

photo courtesy MSK Ghent