A response to Norman Rosenthal’s statements about why museums should not return artefacts looted during the holocaust.

From:
Modern Ghana

RESPONSE TO JONATHAN JONES: “SHOULD ALL LOOTED ART BE RETURNED”?
By Kwame Opoku, Dr.
Tue, 13 Jan 2009
Feature Article

“The public interest must surely be in upholding the rule of law, rather than promoting an international free-for-all through the unrestricted circulation of tainted works of art. Do we really wish to educate our children to have no respect for history, legality and ethical values by providing museums with the opportunity freely to exhibit stolen property? ”
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In a move that goes against the accepted norm, Sir Norman Rosenthal is arguing that Nazi loot in museums should not be returned. An additional twist to the story is that Sir Norman Rosenthal is Jewish himself.

So. To recap – he is arguing that artefacts looted within living memory & presumably purchased without sufficient due diligence to highlight their provenance should now be regarded by everyone as completely legitimate property of the museums that now hold them, whilst the surviving heirs are left with nothing. I find it hard to see how this point of view benefits anyone other than the museums that he speaks on behalf of.

From:
Daily Mail

Museums should be able to keep artwork raided by the Nazis, says son of Jewish refugees
By Liz Thomas
Last updated at 5:26 PM on 09th January 2009

Former Royal Academy chief Sir Norman Rosenthal has provoked anger after arguing that museums should be able to keep Nazi looted artwork.

Sir Norman, who is the son of Jewish refugees who fled from Adolf Hitler to the UK, has called for museums to be allowed to keep pieces plundered by the Nazis, rather than being forced to return them to descendents of their owners.
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