Toespraak minister Eppo Bruins bij Symposium over de toekomst van de Restitutie van Cultuurgoederen uit WOII

Toespraak | 12-09-2024

Your Excellencies, distinguished and learned guests, good morning!

I feel deeply privileged to be here with you today.

• As the minister who is responsible for cultural heritage in the Netherlands.
• But also as the grandchild of a Polish-Jewish grandmother.
• Foremost, I stand before you as a citizen of a country whose history is inextricably intertwined with the Shoah.

Restitution policy holds profound significance for me. It is not just another item on my agenda. It compels us to confront the dark past. A darkness that still casts a shadow over the present.

The Holocaust is not distant, neither in time nor in place. It is present in places where you least expect it, even in this unique and historic zoo. Just a few dozen meters from here, during the Second World War, German occupiers took cheerful photos near the penguins. All for the sake of appearances—look how friendly and easy going they were! Yet in the monkey enclosure and in the attic above the predator’s den, members of the resistance and Jewish people sought shelter to evade the raids. At night, they slept there; during the day, they helped the zoo staff or pretended to be visitors.

In 2020, then-Prime Minister Rutte apologized for the actions – often a synonym for inaction – of the Dutch government during the Second World War. But also the conduct of the Dutch government in the post-war period is downright shameful. People who were fortunate enough to return to the Netherlands were met with coldness. They were even fined by the municipality for not having paid local taxes for a few years.

When we examine the post-war restitution policy of the Dutch government, we see a narrow-minded, bureaucratic and heartless approach. So as we discuss the future of restitution policy today, we must avoid the error of framing it in terms of generosity. Restitution is not about granting favours; it is about delivering justice.

And that is why we must also gain a deeper understanding of the nature of the injustice, the looting of Dutch Jewry and other groups. While the Nazis were undoubtedly interested in the historical significance and economic value of the art, looting of art and other objects also served as a tool in their campaign to dehumanise Jews and other persecuted groups.

Dehumanisation is a dark process with gruesome consequences. People were looted of their possessions, stripped of their humanity, and ultimately deprived of their lives.

This also compels us to look beyond the stolen objects when it comes to the restitution of looted art. We must not only focus on this valuable Rembrandt or that spectacular Kandinsky. Instead, we should ask: what happened to the victims and survivors? What meaning and significance did they attach to their art, religious artifacts, and books?

What impact did the looting have on individuals and families? What iceberg of drama, emotions and life stories lies beneath the surface? And after the Second World War, how did the looting shape the lives of families? How did their suffering echo through the generations?

Restitution policy is not merely about justice; it is about humanity. As if justice and humanity could ever be separated!

That means that the restitution of a work represents material redress, but, much more than this, it is an acknowledgment of the suffering and injustice inflicted upon the original owner and the rightful heirs.

The Dutch restitution policy has been in place for 25 years now. Please allow me to explain what this policy entails.

• Requests are independently evaluated by the Restitution Committee.
• The process is accessible—no lawyer is needed, and fact-finding is conducted by experts from the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
• Moreover, there are no associated costs.
• Above all, there is a just assessment framework, based on the simple principle that looted property must be returned. Fundamental principles of justice and humanity are always strikingly simple.

Dear friends,

We teach our children the value of contentment. However, be cautious when you encounter government representatives who seem content. They should feel a sense of urgency, driven by the pursuit of what is right. For me, this is a sacred calling.

When historical injustices persist to this day, complacency is misplaced. Looking at the future, the Dutch government will fully commit to the restitution of looted objects. The Netherlands fully endorses the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art from 1998. This year, the Best Practices of these Washington Principles were published, further stressing the importance of restitution.

In recent years, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands has improved the provision of information on World War II cultural heritage. Additionally, the agency has resumed proactive research into the provenance of the Netherlands Art Property Collection, the collection that the Allies returned to the Netherlands after the war.

This is very meticulous and thorough research, but its emotional significance cannot be underestimated, especially when it leads to results, as it often does. Potential rightful claimants are approached and informed, which has already resulted in several restitution requests.

Moreover, the digitization of archives is transforming the work of restitution. It benefits both researchers and heirs searching for family possessions, providing new leads. The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure Portal, for example, enables online access to information about Holocaust sources, regardless of their location.

We will continue to make every effort to return objects. Darkness is driven away by light, as Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught us. In this sense, every object we return is a shimmer of light, driving out the darkness of the past.

Yet, despite our hard efforts, the provenance of some objects will remain untraceable, when no individual rightful owners can be found to whom they can be returned. Consider, for example, the objects that were handed in at the Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co., or, shorter, Liro Bank, without the owners’ name being registered. The Nazis established this bank on Sarphati street in Amsterdam, with the sole purpose of systematically stripping Dutch Jews of their possessions before deporting them.

For many of these looted objects, it is no longer possible to trace their rightful owners. We call such objects heirless. But that does not mean they belong to no one.

The looted art of Jewish owners, which cannot be restituted to individual heirs, should return to the Jewish community. Hopefully, these objects can help to carry the story of the Holocaust forward. I am in discussions with the Centraal Joods Overleg (Central Jewish Council) on how to organize the transfer. I am pleased and honoured that the Central Jewish Council will establish a committee, chaired by Lodewijk Asscher, to engage in dialogue with the Jewish community. A panel discussion on this topic is also part of today’s program.

Dear friends,

Eighty years after World War II, the Holocaust is part of our present. Its suffering is still felt. But hopefully, one day we can say that restitution has come to an end. Because justice has been served. Today we will talk about what that means and whether that is possible.

I wish all the best and chutzpah to everyone who contributes to this effort in any way.

Thank you.