The Post-War Restitution of Property Rights in Europe

Dealing with the restitution of property rights within a context of transitional justice involves many dilemmas. This book outlines some of these dilemmas in the context of the restitution processes, in the aftermath of World War II, in the territories of France, the Netherlands, Austria, West Germany, and Belgium. Written by prominent historical and legal experts in the field, a common thread running throughout the different chapters is the impact of the passage of time on restitution issues. On the one hand, the principle of non-retroactivity of laws and statutes of limitation can prevent restitution from taking place. On the other hand, the demand for restitution may become so strong that statutes of limitation may be suspended and past court decisions subject to review if, according to new insights, they are currently considered "unfair" in the light of the extreme injustice of the past. Special attention has been paid to two "looted art" cases: the Austrian Alma Mahler-Werfel Case, concerning the restitu- tion of the Munch painting Summer Night on the Beach, and the Dutch Goudstikker Case. With contributions by Claire Andrieu (Paris), Georg Graf (Salzburg), Jürgen Lillteicher (Lübeck), Franz-Stefan Meissel (Vienna), Herman Schoordijk (Tilburg/Amsterdam), Arend Soeteman (Amsterdam), Veerle Vanden Daelen (Antwerp), Wouter Veraart (Amsterdam), and Laurens Winkel (Rotterdam).