12 January 24 • 2019 jn real-life Holocaust survivor Maria Altmann, who sets in motion a long legal challenge to recover her family’ s cher- ished Gustav Klimt painting, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I — also known as The Woman in Gold — from the Austrian government. “This artwork, some of it by famous Jewish artists, is part of our Jewish iden- tity, as much as Jewish humor, literature and food. Denying the return of iden- tified Jewish artwork stolen during the Holocaust is outrageous, and we cannot be silent when the clock is ticking for recovery under U.S. law, ” said Schwartz, JBAM president and the immediate for- mer chairperson of ACES. RECOVERY PLAN With major art recovery cases cur- rently being litigated in New York and California, Schwartz said he wants to achieve success stories like Altmann’ s for survivor families living in Metro Detroit. Schwartz, who has an entertainment practice and more than a decade of experience in art law, explained the local Holocaust Art Recovery Initiative through the acronym “ ART. ” “The ‘ A ’ is for Awareness of the scope and continuing nature of the problem, ” Schwartz said. “ A million pieces of art were confiscated from the Jewish people and about a third of it — 300,000 miss- ing pieces — have still not been returned to the rightful owners and their descen- dants. Many people do not realize that this is the largest displacement of art in human history. ” He also wants to bring awareness that the HEAR Act “makes it possible for descendants to go to court to recover art and property lost to the Nazis during the World War II period. ” “The HEAR Act helps those who know that certain works were taken from their family in Europe during the Holocaust and not returned, and addresses some of the statutes of limita- tion that prevented families from getting their works back, ” he said. JBAM and its partners will help poten- tial claimants by connecting them with scholars and researchers. The latter can help piece together “provenance, ” or proof of art ownership, for the rightful heirs. JBAM members and other vol- unteers are prepared to litigate owner- ship claims in Michigan federal courts, relying upon the HEAR Act. This must happen prior to the “sunset provision” of Jan. 1, 2027, the deadline to file such lawsuits under the law. “The letter ‘ R’ is for Research, ” Schwartz continued. Establishing prov- enance is the way for tracing a family’ s art claim. It’ s still possible for experts to recover looted artwork because of documentation kept by Nazis and others during the war. “ A lot of evidence remains to be waded through in different repositories, includ- ing at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, ” said Schwartz, who speaks publicly and writes about the problem of looted art. “We want to help people who had art stolen or their descendants. We put them in touch with genealogists, art experts and others to get as much evidence and documentation as pos- sible to help people with their art claims,” Schwartz said. He noted that in addition to individual families, “we are exploring new ways to help much larger groups of Holocaust victims and their descendants.” As part of the local effort to help descendants seeking recovery of looted art, Schwartz said they’ ll be looking for “T,’ ” as in Triable cases. Questions for attorneys to consider will include: Where is the artwork? Is it with private parties, displayed on museum walls or sitting in vaults? Do we have the proof to seek recovery? Can we establish a chain of owner- ship? What is our litigation process? How well have we done before seek- ing artwork from certain govern- ments, museums and institutions? “We must keep putting pressure on foreign countries holding the stolen art- work. It’ s an international problem, ” said Schwartz, noting that “the Hungarian government has been particularly recal- citrant in returning art. ” A pending case, now in appeals, deals with the Herzog Collection that Hungary is refusing to return. “Russia is another difficult country for getting cooperation, ” he said, explaining that it regards the looted Jewish-owned artwork as being “spoils of war. ’ ’ Poland, Spain and Italy have also been slow to address the problem of unreturned Nazi- looted artwork within their borders. Seeking the return of important art- work goes beyond the dollars they’ re worth. “This is an alarm bell for the global Jewish community, ” Schwartz said. “We must put pressure on countries that refuse to disclose evidence or turn over artwork, who stand in our way of recov- ering our Jewish cultural identity. “We should not be quiet about it. We can’ t recover all 300,000 pieces that are missing, but we have the resources available to make significant progress if people are aware and resolve to pursue their family claims, and the global Jewish community speaks with a united voice. ” Schwartz is glad that the U.S. decid- ed to “shine a spotlight on this issue by passing the HEAR Act but acknowl- edged that there is much that should be done. He encourages others to join in the effort with JBAM. “Our goal is helping to recover as many pieces of artwork as possible. This is so import- ant for a variety of reasons, and there’ s limited time.” ■ “Denying the return of identifi ed Jewish artwork stolen during the Holocaust is outrageous; we cannot be silent when the clock is ticking for recovery under U.S. law.” — JONATHAN SCHWARTZ details Jonathan Schwartz is available to further discuss this initiative, how the Michigan legal community is prepared to help and share insight into how people can reach out and receive assistance. He can be reached at jschwartz@jaffelaw. com or (248) 727-1497. ABOVE: Dwight D. Eisenhower, right, inspects stolen artwork in a salt mine in Merkers, accompa- nied by Gen. Omar Bradley, left, and Gen. George S. Patton, center. continued from page 10 NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS/PUBLIC DOMAIN jews d in the