WASHINGTON -- A World War II concentration camp survivor praised an international conference's pledge to encourage the return of Nazi-looted artworks to their prewar owners.
But Noach Flug, now representing the World Jewish Restitution Organization, told delegates from 44 countries, "It is important the goals of this conference will be transferred into reality."If carried out, guidelines that 44 countries endorsed Thursday could shake up the art world, pressuring major private and public collections worldwide -- from the Louvre in Paris to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, to the Museum of Modern Art in New York -- to identify and return to prewar Jewish owners or their heirs works looted by Nazi Germany.
The U.S. Association of Art Museum Directors already has created guidelines that required a search of collections to ensure they contain no looted art. Members also agreed not to borrow pieces known to be stolen by the Nazis. But, until now, much of such information has been lost or hidden in dusty government and private archives closed to outsiders.
The conference suggested archives around the world be open for Holocaust research by Dec. 31, 1999, but many countries and the Vatican so far have refused.
Some European countries also appear reluctant to reach deep in their archives and reach out to Holocaust survivors and their heirs in attempts to find owners.
The principles approved by the conference leave wide room for interpretation.
France, for example, has been working two years to identify prewar owners or heirs of 2,058 pieces of art that has been in government custody and museums since the war, even putting the list on the Internet. But France insists only on direct restitution.
At the conference, the French delegation promised that by the end of 1999, if the government has not tracked down wartime owners for looted art, it will consider proposals to make reparations "that seem justified," delegate Louis Amigues told the conference.
"There can be no doubt about the determination of France," he said.
But the World Jewish Congress remains highly skeptical that the French will ever find prewar owners or make restitution to Holocaust survivors or Jews. The French "are not treating this art issue honestly," said Elan Steinberg, executive director of the group.
Russia announced at the conference that it would try to identify and return "victim art" that the Nazis took from Holocaust victims and that was then plundered by Stalin's troops as "reparations" for Germany's wartime assault.
On the last day of the meeting, the Russian delegation also surprised the forum by delivering three documents on art looted from Austrian Jews that could help settle claims.