Crime News: Switzerland was conduit for art stolen by Nazis paper
chest...@my-dejanews.com
Berne -- Hundreds of paintings and other works of art stolen by the Nazis
passed through Switzerland during World War 2, a Swiss historian says in a
study made public yesterday.
Only a few cases have been solved and virtually no one has been prosecuted in
connection with the stolen art, said Thomas Buomberger.
Buomberger has found evidence in 12 archives in Switzerland and other
countries that he says proves that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of stolen
works of art entered Switzerland.
The Swiss Federal Court is handling only 77 cases, mainly pictures that the
Nazis had stolen in France during the occupation. The works of art in
question will be returned to their original owners.
Neutral Switzerland was the most important site for the trade in stolen art
during the war, according to historians.
A Kandinsky hanging in the Beyeler Foundation at Riehen near Basle was
confiscated by the Nazis in Hanover as "decadent art". The painting was
bought by a trader and sold to Ernst Beyeler in 1948. Mr Beyeler says he
bought it in good faith and refuses to return it to the original owners.
Swiss law protects theft victims for five years. After that owners can only
demand their property back if they can prove the purchaser did not exercise
sufficient care in buying the goods in question.
Meanwhile, Sweden sent back to Germany 500kg of Nazi gold six years after
World War 2 without trying to establish whether the bullion had belonged to
persecuted Jews, the Dagens Nyheter newspaper reported yesterday. Sapa-DPA
All Material Š copyright Independent Newspapers 1998.
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