http://www.elginism.com/20060428/421/ Elgin Marbles (Parthenon Marbles - Sculptures from the Greek Acropolis) reunification campaign news Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:29:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 http://www.elginism.com/20060428/421/#comment-141 George Vardas Tue, 09 May 2006 11:31:47 +0000 http://www.elginism.com/20060428/421/#comment-141 The decision of the British Government to compensate the heirs of Dr Feldmann whose Old Master drawings were looted by the Nazis and later acquired by the British Museum raises some intriguing questions. The heirs of the Feldmann Estate had previously negotiated the physical return of other works from the Czech Republic through Anne Webber of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe ("CLAE"). Suddenly, after bringing a claim for return of the four Feldmann drawings from the British Museum, the claim was "resolved" by a joint submission that the claimants be compensated instead by a payment of 175,000 pounds. The report of the UK Spoliation Advisory Panel specifically notes that the claimants had revoked all authority for the CLAE to represent them and that the British Museum and the claimants had put up instead a "preferred solution". And yet in 2004 Ms Webber had written that she was working on behalf of the claimants with the British Museum to find a creative legal means of allowing restitution to take place. Suddenly, the claimants have accepted compensation and have even claimed that "we are sure that this is what our grandfather would have wanted for them to be available to the public". The British Museum is absolutely petrified of a precedent being set for the Parthenon Sculptures and will clearly go to any lengths to avoid returning works of art stolen by the Nazis. The British Government has also been slow in amending the law to permit the British Museum to return looted works of art. The ghost of the Elgin Marbles is still ever present. The decision of the British Government to compensate the heirs of Dr Feldmann whose Old Master drawings were looted by the Nazis and later acquired by the British Museum raises some intriguing questions. The heirs of the Feldmann Estate had previously negotiated the physical return of other works from the Czech Republic through Anne Webber of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe (”CLAE”). Suddenly, after bringing a claim for return of the four Feldmann drawings from the British Museum, the claim was “resolved” by a joint submission that the claimants be compensated instead by a payment of 175,000 pounds. The report of the UK Spoliation Advisory Panel specifically notes that the claimants had revoked all authority for the CLAE to represent them and that the British Museum and the claimants had put up instead a “preferred solution”. And yet in 2004 Ms Webber had written that she was working on behalf of the claimants with the British Museum to find a creative legal means of allowing restitution to take place. Suddenly, the claimants have accepted compensation and have even claimed that “we are sure that this is what our grandfather would have wanted for them to be available to the public”. The British Museum is absolutely petrified of a precedent being set for the Parthenon Sculptures and will clearly go to any lengths to avoid returning works of art stolen by the Nazis. The British Government has also been slow in amending the law to permit the British Museum to return looted works of art. The ghost of the Elgin Marbles is still ever present.

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