Cultural Genocide and Restitution: The Early Wave of Jewish Cultural Restitution in the Aftermath of World War II

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-374
Author(s):  
Leora Bilsky
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
International Law ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
World War ◽  
Cultural Genocide ◽  
Military Tribunal

AbstractCultural restitution in international law typically aims to restore cultural property to the state of origin. The experience of World War II raised the question of how to adapt this framework to deal with states that persecuted cultural groups within their own borders. Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jews and its attempt to destroy their cultural heritage began before the war and was carried out systematically throughout the war in the conquered territories. After the war, the Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin advocated for the recognition of the new crime of genocide and, in particular, its cultural dimensions. Jewish organizations also argued that cultural destruction should be seen as an integral component of the crime of genocide and that the remedy of cultural restitution should be part of the effort to rehabilitate the injured group, but their efforts to gain recognition in the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg for the unique harm suffered by the Jews were unsuccessful. This article discusses an innovative approach developed by Jewish jurists and scholars in the late 1940s and 1950s, according to which heirless cultural property was returned to Jewish organizations as trustees for the Jewish people. Though largely forgotten in the annals of law, this approach offers a promising model for international law to overcome its statist bias and recognize the critical importance of cultural heritage for the rehabilitation of (non-state) victim groups.

Restitution of Jewish Cultural Property Looted in World War II: To Whom?

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yehuda Z. Blum
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Hague Convention ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
World War ◽  
The Hague ◽  
The Hague Convention ◽  
State Of Israel

The Hague Convention on Cultural property of 1954 prohibits the transfer by the occupier of cultural property from territory occupied by him. Under the Protocol annexed to the said Convention, the parties to it undertake to return cultural property transferred in contravention of the Convention to their countries of origin. These provisions arc clearly inadequate when dealing with Jewish cultural property looted by Nazi-Germany and its collaborators in the course of World War II. Jewish cultural heritage was usually considered as endangering the cultural heritage of the host nations and, consequently, subject to harassment and destruction. It would therefore seem inequitable to return looted Jewish cultural property (representing the cultural heritage of the Jewish people) to (those countries from which it was looted; the proper recipient of this heritage (also by virtue of the principle of self-determination) is the Jewish people represented by the State of Israel and the major contemporary Jewish communities around the world.

Territoriality and State Succession in Cultural Heritage

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-396
Author(s):  
Andrzej Jakubowski
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
Nation State ◽  
World War ◽  
Cultural Assets ◽  
State Succession ◽  
Principle Of Territoriality

Abstract:The international legal discourse on the topic of state succession in cultural property has long been dominated by the concept of territoriality—the territorial provenance (origin) of cultural assets. This traditional reasoning was essentially rooted in the idea of the European nation-state. In the last 50 years, the principle of territoriality has also become accommodated within the framework of the preservation of cultural heritage. Yet such territorial and protective approaches do not take into account the value of cultural heritage for society, that is, groups and individuals that have created or maintained a given heritage. This article attempts to explore the potential clash between the principles of territoriality and human rights, with respect to state succession in cultural heritage matters. In this context, it deals with some recent ongoing interstate negotiations on the allocation of and access to cultural property with respect to post–World War II developments in state succession among Poland, Germany, and Ukraine.

The Fate of the Koenigs Collection: Public and Private International Law Aspects

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Gattini
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
Private Ownership ◽  
Private International Law ◽  
World War ◽  
German Government ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Recent Developments

SummaryThe Koenigs Collection of Old Master drawings was transferred during the course of World War II from private ownership to the German government. Most of the collection recently appeared in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. The author examines the validity of these transfers and the proper ownership of the collection today from both a public and private international law perspective. The dispute as to ownership between Russia and the Netherlands and the role of the German government is a difficult one to resolve, particularly in light of current claims for war reparations and recent developments in international law concerning the transfer of cultural property.

scholarly journals Criminal Proceedings Against Albers

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
pp. 632-638
Author(s):  
Filippo Fontanelli
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Sovereign Immunity ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
Court Of Appeal

In August 2012, the First Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation (Supreme Court or Court), the highest Italian domestic court, issued a judgment upholding Germany’s sovereign immunity from civil claims brought by Italian war crime victims against Paul Albers and eight others in the Italian courts (Albers). In so doing, the Court overruled its own earlier decisions and also reversed the judgment of April 20, 2011, by the Italian Military Court of Appeal (Military Court), which had upheld such claims relating to war crimes committed by German forces in Italy during World War II. With this ruling, the Court of Cassation put an end to its decade long effort to find an exception to the well-known rule of customary international law providing for sovereign immunity from foreign civil jurisdiction for actsjure imperii. Thisrevirementresulted from the Court’s decision to give effect to the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) inGermany v. Italy.

THE PEDIATRICIAN AND THE PUBLIC

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-487
Author(s):  
John A. Askin ◽  
Kurt Glaser
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Jewish State ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Short Period ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Made In

IN SPITE of a short period of sovereignty— less than 7 years—the State of Israel is playing an important role in matters pertaining not only to the Middle East but, in some respects, in matters of importance to the whole world. In medicine the advances in Israel have been no less striking than the progress made in other fields. It is felt that the pediatricians of our country might be interested to learn about Israel's medical status, particularly pertaining to pediatrics. Palestine, of which the present Israel is a part, was in Old Testament times known as Canaan or Philistia because of the tribes which lived there. Palestine was the home of the Jewish people from the time Joshua conquered the land, about 1400 B.C., until the Romans destroyed the Jewish State in the year 70 A.D. Around 630 A.D. the country came under Moslem power. From 1516 to the end of World War I Palestine was a part of the Turkish Empire. In 1917, the British Government issued the famous Balfour Declaration which promised the Jews of the world that they could build a national homeland in Palestine. The League of Nations made the land a British mandate in 1920. From then until World War II Palestine was at several occasions plunged into violent civil war between the Jews and the Arabs. After World War II in 1947 Great Britain announced a decision to give up the Mandate.

Amnesties in the Light of Developments in International Law and the Establishment of the International Criminal Court

2002 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Gavron
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Tribunal ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World

Amnesties presuppose a breach of law and provide immunity or protection from punishment. Historically amnesties were invoked in relation to breaches of the laws of war and were reciprocally implemented by opposing sides in an international armed conflict. The impact of the two world wars in the first half of the twentieth century, however, had considerable implications not only for the use of amnesties, but also for their legality under international law. The scale of the First World War precipitated a new phase of unilateral amnesty for the victors and prosecutions of war criminals for the defeated aggressor states.1 This precedent was followed after the Second World War,2 with the establishment of the first ‘international’3 criminal court, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. However, the horrors perpetrated during the Second World War also prompted the development of a branch of international law aimed at recognising and protecting human rights in an attempt to prevent such atrocities being repeated.

scholarly journals Nazi Crimes in Poland. A Never-Ending Search for Justice

2019 ◽  
pp. 142-160
Author(s):  
Hanna Kuczyńska
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
World War ◽  
National Courts ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Efficient Machine

This article deals with the model for prosecuting Nazi crimes committed in Poland in the light of the model presently used in international criminal law. It tries to answer the question: should the investigation of crimes of international law be handed over to transnational tribunals? Should they be hybrid tribunals involving a national factor, or completely supra-national tribunals like the International Criminal Court? Is it legitimate to transfer jurisdiction over these matters to national courts? The case of unpunished Nazi crimes in Poland may give a partial answer to this question. Certainly, various attempts made after World War II, including procedures brought before Polish courts, have contributed to understanding the function of international criminal law, and finding the answer to the question of the best model for prosecuting crimes of international law. At present, we also have the experience of international criminal tribunals, in particular the ICC, which is an efficient machine for prosecuting crimes of international law. Interesting conclusions can be drawn from its functioning that could improve the work of Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) prosecutors, and shed new light on the considerations regarding the prosecution of Nazi crimes in Poland after World War II.

scholarly journals The (Immediate) Post-World War II Period

2020 ◽  
pp. 168-189
Author(s):  
Antonello Tancredi
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Law ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
World War ◽  
Post World War Ii ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Social ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Domestic Law

This chapter addresses the development, after World War II, of two different currents of thought inherited by the Italian international law doctrine from the interwar period: dogmatism and structuralism. The analysis of some fundamental writings concerning topics such as the foundation and the social structure of the international legal order tries to offer a reading lens on some of the most important scientific trends (especially ‘realism’ and ‘neo-normativism’) of the post-World War II period and on the scholars that animated such approaches. Thanks to the identification of some structuring ideas, it will then be possible to briefly examine other issues concerning, for instance, the relationship between international and domestic law after the 1948 Republican Constitution, sovereignty, etc. The evolution of the methodology of international law will have a relevant part in the analysis of theoretical approaches developed by Italian scholars in this period.

scholarly journals Antonio Morassi, Giulio Carlo Argan, Roberto Longhi e la riscoperta del Caravaggio di casa Balbi a Genova (1939-1952)

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 351-369
Author(s):  
Giulio Zavatta
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Saint Paul ◽  
World War ◽  
Published Report ◽  
The World

Antonio Morassi’s archive and photographic library kept in the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage of Ca’ Foscari University in Venice preserves a series of documents relating to the rediscovery of the Caravaggio of Casa Balbi, which took place during the World War II. Antonio Morassi had a look to the Conversion of Saint Paul in the Genoese palace of Balbi and studied it to publish it. The picture that Morassi sent to the publishers was however showed to Giulio Carlo Argan, who was also writing a monograph about Caravaggio. Argan pledged to acknowledge the discovery to Morassi. But, Argan published report about the painting in an article in 1943. However, Roberto Longhi intervened, denying that it was a Caravaggio pain- ting. Morassi, who discovered this painting, published it on the Emporium magazine only in 1947, after World War II, is therefore not often recognized as the discoverer of this masterpiece.

scholarly journals Constitutional law and international law at the turn of the century

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
JA Frowein
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
International Law ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
World War ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
Constitution Making

Constitutional law and international law operate in simultaneous conjunction and reciprocal tension. Both fields seem to have overcome the great challenges of destruction and neglect in the course of the 20th century. Both after World War I and World War II the world experienced new waves of constitution making. In both cases the current German constitutions (the Weimar Constitution of 1919 and the Grundgesetz of 1949) were influential. Characteristic of constitution-making in this century, is the final victory of liberal constitutions based on the rule of law, the Rechtsstaat, fundamental rights, meaningful control of public powers and the establishment of constitutional courts. Following the destruction of World War II, the notion of the Sozialstaat emerged strongly in Germany. In contrast to the Constitution of the United States of America, the principle of the responsibility of the state for social justice has emerged in almost all new constitutions, including Russia, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Italy and Portugal. Where courts are given the mandate to interpret bills of rights, fundamental rights have been developed into foundation stones of the legal system. The presence in a Bill of Rights of restrictive clauses, is important for its analysis. Generally restrictive clauses in new constitutions try to limit the possibilities of restriction. The importance of constitutional rules establishing and legitimizing the political organs, must not be overlooked. Of particular importance is the degree of control over the head of state, a positive attitude among political actors towards the constitution and the protection of the interests of minorities in a democratic system. In the field of Public International Law much of Kant's ideal of an international confederation of peace has been realized. Since 1990 the United Nation's Security Council has shown the potential of becoming a directorate for the community ofnations. International law has also been instrumental in the worldwide recognition of human rights. Especially in Europe, Convention Law has had a strong impact. Furthermore, global and regional systems of regulation have tended to alter the legal attitude towards state sovereignty. It may be that the South African constitutional approach in terms of which international law is subject to constitutional and other national law, is not in line with international tendencies.

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