25 Years of the Washington Principles: The Strides and Stumbles in Reclaiming Nazi-Confiscated Art

By Madeline Halgren

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Washington Principles at the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets. To put this into perspective, that is only a quarter of a century where countries have been urged through a written agreement to recover and return art and other cultural artifacts to those whose ancestors suffered Nazi persecution. This leaves a 53-year gap between their enactment and the fall of the Third Reich. In May of 1945, hundreds of thousands of pieces of work were discovered and restituted to their countries of origin. However, thousands of rightful owners could not be found.^[1] It was not until 1998 that many nations decided to make a joint and pragmatic effort to ensure more Nazi-looted works were making their way to their rightful owners. Due to the encouragement of the Washington Principles, the efforts to recover art looted from private and public collections across the globe have grown exponentially.

Just looking at the efforts in 2023 is insightful: In January 2023, Christie’s announced a Year Long Global Programme in honor of the anniversary of the Principles.^[2] They have been hosting various events, including a panel on the Washington Principles at Christie’s Paris in January and a discussion on provenance research at Christie’s London, this past summer. At the same time, Christie’s has come under fire for their decision to auction a jewelry collection from the estate of a woman whose husband had Nazi Affiliation.^[3] Sotheby’s has also continued its partnership with the Louvre to fund provenance research to uncover whether almost 14,000 works were looted during the Nazi era.^[4] In the Decorative Arts Department alone, 1,162 works have been researched, with most turning out to have clear provenances, but there is much work to be done within and outside this small sector of the museum.^[5]

In reflecting on the creation of the Washington Principles and what their enactment has been able to do for the reclamation of art, concerns regarding provenance and ownership are brought into the limelight broaching the question - how does one ensure the rightful owner of a work is properly compensated? What efforts are (and are not) being made to shed light on the gaps in a work’s provenance and what implications does this have for the success of restitution efforts?