(Chipping Barnet)
(Con)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to prevent the
Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009 from expiring
on 11 November 2019.
It was on 10 November 1938 when the horrors of Nazi
persecution began in earnest with the shameful episode known
as Kristallnacht. Lives were lost during that terrifying
“night of broken glass” but a key focus of the violent
attacks that took place was property—the homes, buildings and
businesses owned by Jewish people. Throughout the 1930s and
’40s, property of all kinds was systematically stolen from
millions of people as part of Hitler’s horrific genocidal
campaign against Europe’s Jewish community. That included
many precious works of art. It is estimated that up to 20% of
Europe’s cultural treasures were lost during world war two,
and around 100,000 cultural objects pillaged during the Nazi
era still remain hidden today. The horrific crimes of the
Nazis can never be remedied, but there is action that we can
take to return works of art to the people from whom they were
stolen.
At the end of the last century, there was growing
international awareness of the risk that looted art may have
been inadvertently acquired by museums and galleries. That
led to the 1998 Washington conference on holocaust era
assets, where a number of countries, including the UK,
pledged that they would work to identify treasures stolen by
the Nazis and seek to return them to their rightful owners.
Compared with other European countries, it seems that little
looted art found its way to the UK, but that should not be an
excuse for inaction.
In 2000, the previous Labour Government established the
Spoliation Advisory Panel to consider claims from anyone who
had lost possession of a cultural object in circumstances
relating to the Nazi era. A problem arose in 2002, when the
heirs of Dr Arthur Feldman sought the restitution of four old
master drawings in the British Museum on the grounds that
they had been stolen by the Gestapo from Dr Feldman’s
collection in March 1939 in what was then Czechoslovakia. The
British Museum wanted to return the objects, but the High
Court ruled that it could not lawfully do so. No matter the
moral case for giving property back to the heirs of its
owner, the museum was under a binding statutory obligation
not to give away items in its collection. Several other
national institutions were also subject to the same
restriction.
That and other similar cases were raised in Parliament in
2009 by , who was the MP for
Hendon at the time. He brought forward a private Member’s
Bill to remove the statutory restrictions on national
institutions, such as the British Museum, that prevented them
from returning works of art confiscated by the Nazis. With
cross-party support, the Holocaust (Return of Cultural
Objects) Bill received Royal Assent on 12 November 2009. It
provides that the 17 national institutions named in the
legislation have the power to return works of art to their
rightful owners in cases where that is recommended by the
advisory panel and approved by the Culture Secretary.
However, section 4(7) of the 2009 Act contains a 10-year
sunset clause, meaning that the Act will cease to have effect
after 11 November next year. After that date, the
institutions named in the legislation will no longer be able
to return works of art to Holocaust survivors or to the
families of those who perished in the genocide. The Bill that
I am seeking leave to bring in would keep the legislation on
the statute book by repealing section 4(7) and thus removing
the sunset clause.
Parliament was entirely right in 2009 to give our national
museums the power to restore property lost in such terrible
circumstances to its rightful owners. The legislation was
subject to exacting scrutiny and was significantly amended
and clarified during its passage through Parliament. It has
worked well during its eight years on the statute book,
resolving cases in a fair and balanced way. Take, for
example, the 12th century manuscript known as the Beneventan
Missal. The advisory panel concluded that the manuscript had
been looted during the chaos that followed the Allied bombing
of Benevento in 1943, and, with the approval of the Secretary
of State, the missal was returned to Italy. In 2015, a John
Constable painting from the Tate Gallery was restored to its
owner after the panel concluded that it had been stolen when
the German army invaded Budapest in 1944.
The 2009 Act is a carefully targeted measure that applies to
a defined and limited period and set of circumstances, so it
does not open the door for more contentious claims relating
to objects brought to the UK in past centuries and under
different circumstances. The Act has not had a disruptive
impact on our national museums. When the proposal to keep the
measure on the statute book was announced in 2017, it was
warmly welcomed by the museum community. Today the director
of the National Gallery, Dr Gabriele Finaldi, issued the
following statement:
“The museum community is committed to fair and just redress
in the case of works taken wrongfully during the Holocaust
and World War II. It is fully supportive of the proposal to
amend the Act by removing the so-called sunset clause.”
The task of identifying and returning objects that have an
incomplete history during the relevant period is by no means
at an end. As recently as last September, the Government
hosted an international conference in London to consider how
efforts to identify and give back works of art lost during
the holocaust could be accelerated. The UK has been at the
forefront of global efforts to resolve those cases in a fair
way, and the 2009 Act has played an important part in that.
The 2009 legislation had the backing of the last Labour
Government, and my proposed Bill has the support of the
current Conservative Government. I thank the Department for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for its work, which has
included engaging with the Scottish Government with a view to
securing their support to reflect the fact that Scottish
institutions are included in the list in the legislation.
There may still be potential claimants who are unaware of the
location of artworks owned by relatives who died in the
holocaust, so the moral case for this legislation remains as
strong today as it was eight years ago. Indeed, the case is
arguably stronger than it was in 2009. We have fewer and
fewer holocaust survivors still with us. I take this
opportunity to pay tribute to all the survivors who live in
my Chipping Barnet constituency. I have had the great honour
of meeting many of them during my years as their local MP. I
thank them for all that they do to ensure that the current
generation hears their testimony at first hand, as part of
the efforts we must make as a society to ensure that the
horrors of the holocaust are never forgotten.
Surely, it would be heartless and wrong to deprive the last
survivors of their right to recover treasured works of art.
Nothing can make up for the trauma and suffering of those who
experienced the holocaust at first hand, or who lost loved
ones in that horror, but at least we can give them back the
precious works of art that were stolen from them. That is
what my proposal is designed to achieve, and I commend this
Bill to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,
That , , , , , Mr , , , , , Mr and present the Bill.
accordingly
presented the Bill.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday
27 April, and to be printed (Bill 182).
