GERMANY The following information was provided by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington, D.C.: Germany does not have a historical commission per se for identifying the assets of Holocaust victims. In dealing with the legacy of the Nazi regime, the Federal Republic of Germany established a precedent in 1951 for legislating and implementing a comprehensive system of restitution for the injustices of the Nazi era. Since 1990, the unified Germany has continued and extended the restitution policies of the preunification Federal Republic. For the most part, these policies have been conclusively implemented. Stiftung "Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft" ["Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future" Foundation] In August 2000, the Federal Republic of Germany passed a law establishing the foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future." The foundation distributes payments from its capital of DM 10 billion to partner organizations that distribute the funds to qualified claimants. For information on who is eligible to apply as well as application procedures, please see the foundation’s Web site at http://www.stiftung-evz.de Contact: Markgrafenstrasse 12-14 10969 Berlin, Germany Telephone: +49 30 25 92 97 0 Fax: +49 30 25 92 97 11 E-mail: info@stiftung-evz.de Zukunftsfonds [Remembrance and Future Fund] In addition to making material restitution for forced labor, the aim of the Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future Foundation is to demonstrate that the state, society, and business have a lasting political and moral responsibility. The foundation therefore set up a “Remembrance and Future” fund to foster projects that serve the purposes of better understanding among peoples, the interests of survivors of the National Socialist regime, youth exchange, social justice, remembrance of the threat posed by totalitarian systems and despotism, and international cooperation in humanitarian endeavors. The fund contains approximately 307–358 million Euros. In order to fulfill its statutory requirements, the Remembrance and Future Fund supports four types of projects: assistance for survivors and heirs; remembrance; international understanding and the safeguarding of peace, the cessation of xenophobia and anti-semitism, and protection of minorities; and teaching democracy and promoting respect for human rights. Contact: Stiftung "Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft" Markgrafenstrasse 12-14 10969 Berlin, Germany Telephone: +49 30 25 92 97 0 Fax: +49 30 25 92 97 11 E-mail: info@stiftung-evz.de http://www.stiftung-evz.de Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste [Coordination Office for Lost Cultural Assets] Since its creation in 1994, the Coordination Office has been responsible mainly for documenting, researching, registering, and describing looted art. Currently, more than 300 museums, libraries, and archives registered in the internal database of the Coordination Office have reported the loss of more than three million objects. About 40,000 of these objects are described in detail in the office’s database. The Coordination Office converted its internal database of looted cultural assets into the Lost Art Internet Database in 1999. The database facilitates the worldwide registration of cultural assets relocated during the war, seized in the course of persecution, or exhibiting provenance gaps. Contact: Dr. Michael Franz, Head of Coordination Office Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste City Carré Kantstrasse 5 39104 Magdeburg, Germany Telephone: +49 391 544 8709 Fax: +49 391 535 39633 E-mail: lostart@mk.sachsen-anhalt.de http://www.lostart.de Declaration by the Federal Government, the Federal States, and the National Associations of Local Authorities in Germany on Tracing and Return of Nazi-Confiscated Art, Especially from Jewish Property, 14 December 1999 In December 1999, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, the federal states (Länder), and the national associations of local authorities issued a declaration of support for tracing and returning Nazi-confiscated art, particularly that of Jewish origin. The statement can be found in English at http://www.lostart.de/stelle/erklaerung.php3?lang=english Gesetz zur Modernisierung des Schuldrechts [Modernization of the Law of Obligations Act] The Modernization of the Law of Obligations Act, enacted by the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany in fall 2001 as a revision to the German Civil Code, explicitly purported to bar all claims for the return of stolen or lost art after 30 years, making it more difficult to reclaim art stolen during the Holocaust. Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder, Chairman of the Commission for Art Recovery, wrote to the head of government of each of the 16 German Länder (federal states) to ask them to consider what steps would be available in order to address the problems raised by the proposed statute. As a result, on November 9, 2001, the Bundesrat (upper house of German parliament) passed a resolution stating that, although it approved the measure, the statute of limitations could lead to unfair consequences insofar as cultural property taken in Nazi-era persecutions and relocated as a result of the war were concerned. The Bundesrat therefore reaffirmed the December 1999 Declaration by the Federal Government, the Länder, and the National Associations of Local Authorities on the Tracing and Return of Nazi-Confiscated Art, Especially of Jewish Origin to exempt Nazi-confiscated art from the statute of limitations and to protect victims of Nazi looting from unfair treatment. Deutsche Bank The Deutsche Bank cooperates with the foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility, and the Future” and is also making efforts to have its own past fully and critically appraised. In December 1997, the bank initiated an independent international historical commission to research the history of the bank in the Nazi period. The commission’s task was to investigate the dealings of the Deutsche Bank with gold belonging to victims of Nazi persecution. The commission found that from 1941 to 1944 the bank dealt in Nazi gold, including 744 kilograms of dental gold, wedding bands, and personal jewelry of Nazi victims. The commission’s report, Die Deutsche Bank und ihre Goldtransaktionen während des Zweiten Weltkrieges (The Deutsche Bank and its Gold Transactions during the Second World War) by Jonathan Steinberg, was published in 1998 and can be purchased online in German or in English at http://www.beck.de. Since then, a number of other studies investigating the Deutsche Bank during the National Socialist period have been published, including Professor Harold James’s 2001 book The Deutsche Bank and the Nazi Economic War against the Jews. Contact: Dr. Manfred Pohl, Head of Historical Institute Dr. Martin Müller, Head of Historical Institute Archives Deutsche Bank AG Historisches Institut Zimmerweg 16 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany Telephone: +49 69 910 33141 Fax: +49 69 910 38336 E-mail: martin-l.mueller@db.com http://www.deutsche-bank.de/geschichte/en/ Conferences Germany participated in the London Conference on Nazi Gold. Germany participated in the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets. Proceedings of the Washington Conference can be found at http://www.state.gov/www/regions/eur/holocaust/heac.html. Germany participated in the Vilnius International Forum on Holocaust Era Looted Cultural Assets. Proceedings of the Vilnius Forum can be found at http://www.vilniusforum.lt/proceedings/index.htm. Zentrum für Vergleichende Geschichte Europas [The Center for Comparative History of Europe] The Center for Comparative History of Europe presented an academic conference, “‘Aryanization’ and Restitution in a Comparative Perspective: The Question of Jewish Property Stolen under Nazi Occupation in Europe” in Berlin on January 10–11, 2002. The conference results are to be published in a report in 2003. A complete program of the conference can be found at http://www.fu-berlin.de/zvge/frame/restitution.htm.