Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art

Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art is a document signed on December 3, 1998, in Washington during a conference organized at the initiative of the USA. Representatives from 44 countries, including Poland, the Vatican, and 12 non-governmental organizations, declared their readiness to settle the issue of cultural property looted by Nazi Germany actively. Signatories committed to taking action to identify artworks plundered by the Nazi regime. The next step was to ensure fair solutions in the existing situation, including the return of looted cultural property to the rightful heirs of the owners

Restitution, or the return of artworks to their rightful owners, is one of the commonly practiced solutions for objects looted by the Nazi regime. Works returned shortly after the signing of the Washington Declaration included paintings from the Breslau collection of Max Silberberg, including Vincent van Gogh’s drawing “L’Olivette,” returned to the heirs in 1999 by the National Gallery in Berlin. A year later, the Israel Museum restituted Camille Pissarro’s painting “Boulevard Montmartre.” These cases, widely discussed in the media, contributed to raising public awareness of the issues surrounding Nazi looting of artworks and the provisions of the Washington Declaration.