Australia

• The following information is based on the Press Release issued by Austrian Information Service on February 11, 1999:

For more information see http://www.austria.org/press

• The new proposed Austrian legislation on the return of artworks can be accessed (in German) at: http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/pd/pm/XX/I/his/013/I01390_.html

• The Mauerbach-Fonds
  The Mauerbach-Fonds was established in the fall of 1996. In that year works of art that formerly belonged to Jewish victims of National Socialism and whose current owners could not be determined, were sold at a public auction by Christie's, Manson and Woods. The net profits of this auction, some 130 million Austrian Schillings (over $10 million US) are in the process of being distributed by the Austrian Jewish Community. The procedure for this distribution is the result of extensive discussions between the Austrian Jewish Community and its international partners, the Central Committee for Jews from Austria in Israel, the Committee for Jewish Claims on Austria and the World Jewish Restitution Organization.

• The Bruno Kreisky Archives Foundation maintains a web site on art looted by the Nazi regime in Austria. Included on the site is a list of privately owned artworks that are still missing, as well as an article by Oliver Rathkolb on post-war restitution policies in Austria. The site is located at: http://members.vienna.at/kreisky/naziartloot/

France

• The German state of Saxony-Anhalt maintains an "Internet Research Catalog" of more than 1000 missing paintings and books believed confiscated by the US or the Soviet Union.
  http://www.dhh-3.de/looted/
• Koordinierungsstelle der Länder für die Rückführung von Kulturgütern
  The Federal States of Germany founded the Koordinierungsstelle der Länder für die Rückführung von Kulturgütern (Coordination Office of the States for the Return of Cultural Treasures), which is involved in researching missing objects and creating a database of looted cultural property. While working primarily with affected archives, museums, and libraries, the Office's documents are also intended for use by in cases in which stolen objects turn up on the grey market.

• Lost Art Internet Database

• Nederlandse Museumvereniging - Museum Security Network
  Contact:
  P.O. Box 74693
  NL-1070 BR Amsterdam
  THE NETHERLANDS
  Tel: 011.31.0.20.6701.100
  Fax: 011.31.0.20.6701.101
  Securma@xs4all.nl
  Web site: museum-security.org/ww2/index.html

Switzerland

• Information on measures taken by Switzerland relating to the problem of looted art www.swissemb.org/dialogue5/article_8.html

United Kingdom

• TRACE

• The Victoria and Albert Museum
  The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has acquired the Fischer archive, a list of 10,000 "degenerate" works confiscated and then sold by the Nazis. The Fischer list, recently donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum by the widow of the London art dealer Harry Fischer, allows historians to identify for the first time paintings by Van Gogh, Franz Marc and Cézanne which were seized by Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering - a collection that vanished in 1945. The two-volume list reveals the lucrative commercial links forged by the Nazis with neutral countries such as Switzerland.

• Commission for Art Recovery of the World Jewish Congress
  Chaired by Ronald Lauder, Treasurer of the WJC and President of the Museum of Modern Art. Affiliated to the World Jewish Restitution Organization based in Jerusalem. Carries out searches for works whose provenance contain - names of the victims of spoliation; names associated with looting or trading in spoliated art; names featured on Nazi confiscation lists; and details corresponding with information from Post-war allied restitution organizations. Also searches for "works whose provenances exhibit suspicious wartime gaps". Takes information from claimants or potential claimants and compares details with information on its database. If a match is found, details are passed to claimants with advice on how to proceed.

• Holocaust Art Restitution Project (HARP)
  Foundation housed in B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, and set up as a clearinghouse to document the fates of seized and stolen cultural items. In addition, the project will assist historians, students and families in their search for information on missing art works.

• The Art Loss Register
  The Art Loss Register, Inc., identifies art stolen during the Holocaust that is being undertaken by the ALR with the financial support of its major shareholders, led by Southeby's and Aon Corporation. Its objective is to make a concerted effort to expand ALR's already substantial database of art looted from both government and private holdings during World War II. The ALR is dedicating full-time staff to registering additional losses listed in public or private documents or identified to it by individuals or institutions. Other ALR shareholders supporting this initiative are the auction houses of Christie's, Philips and Bonhams. For further information, please see www.artloss.com.

• Task Force of the American Association of Art Museum Directors
  The American Association of Art Directors, with participation by the 170 largest museums in North America, has established a 13-member task force on art looted during the Nazi/World War II Era. On June 4, 1998, the AAMD announced a set of principles, guidelines, and recommendations to deal with works of art stolen by the National Socialist regime.

• A paper concerning restitution of books by the United States, entitled "Looted Books: The Post-War Fate of Materials Seized by the Nazis," has been prepared by:

• The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• The Documentation Project (Cultural Property Research Foundation)

• National Archive and Records Administration
  Contact:
  National Archive and Records Administration
  700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
  Washington D.C. 20408
  alic@arch2.nara.gov
  Web site: www.nara.gov/research/assets