Helen Mirren got interested in the subject during themaking of the movie “Woman in Gold,”in which sheportrayed a Jewish woman who fought successfullyto reclaim a piece of art that was stolen from herfamily during the Holocaust.
“And it is a story that is not made possible withoutthis incredible country-the United States ofAmerica.
These are American stories-stories that capture the integrity and the power of the UnitedStates.”
At a Senate hearing Tuesday, co-chaired by Texas Republican Ted Cruz, the Oscar winningactress said the right thing to do in every instance is to return the art to its rightful owners.
“It's a terribly sad fact that more than 70 years later, victims of the Holocaust and their familiesare still contemplating whether to seek restitution for what was stolen from them and lostunder the most horrible of circumstances.”
A lack of transparency and legal restrictions discourage many rightful owners from seekingtheir inheritance.
One of them, Simon Goodman, testified that he had been fighting for 20 years for the return ofhis grandfather's collection.
“Fritz Goodman was murdered in Terezienstadt in April 1944, but it was not until 1994, whenmy father died and I inherited his correspondence, that I became aware of my father's solitaryand largely unsuccessful quest to regain his own father's dispersed collection.”
One of the most common obstacles is the lapse of time between the theft and the claim forrestitution.
Advocates, maintain there can be no statute of limitations for crimes perpetrated during theHolocaust.
“Just like the prosecution of genocide should never be barred by statute of limitations, in thesame manner works of art and valuable property taken during the campaign of genocideshould be deemed as forever tainted.”
The bipartisan Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act would ensure that claims to Nazi-confiscated art are not unfairly barred by statutes of limitation and other procedural obstacles.
/1 
