[CPProt.net] City offers £10,000 to Nazi loot holocaust families

[MSN and CPProt list (Ton Cremers)]

City offers £10,000 to Nazi loot holocaust families 
 
PHIL MILLER March 03 2005 
 
AN offer of £10,000 is to be made to the Jewish families seeking the return
of a painting – forced from their ownership under the Nazi regime – which is
held in a Glasgow museum.
Glasgow City Council is to offer the payment in acknowledgement of the
claims for Le Paté de Jambon, which became part of the Burrell Collection
after being bought in a "forced sale" in Berlin in 1936 to meet a bogus Nazi
tax demand.
The work, attributed to Chardin and worth about £7500, has been the subject
of the claim for the past three years.
The cultural and leisure services committee's decision to make the offer
yesterday, comes four months after the government's department of culture,
media and sport said the painting should be returned to the families.
This decision was backed by Estelle Morris, culture minister, who said it
was the "most appropriate way to proceed".
However, returning the painting would break the strict rules that apply to
the Burrell Collection, gifted to the city by Sir William Burrell, the
shipping magnate, in 1944. These restrictions do not allow any part of the
collection to be lent, sold or disposed of, and left the council in a
quandary over how to proceed.
The local authority has opened discussions with lawyers of the two families
involved, and informally the families do not "insist upon the painting's
return", a council report said yesterday.
The document adds: "They are, however, seeking a 'just and equitable
solution' to their claim. The lawyers have said, on a without prejudice
basis, that their clients would, in principle, be prepared to consider
accepting the sum."
A council statement said: "The payment is being offered on an ex-gratia
basis in recognition of the moral case that has been presented and the
expenses incurred by the families in pursuing the claim."
In April 2003, the local authority accepted the families had established "at
least a moral case for reparation".
However, legal advice taken by the council said it was not under any legal
obligation to return the painting.
John Lynch, chairman of the repatriation working group, said: "This solution
not only maintains the integrity of the Burrell Collection but also shows
that we have accepted the families' moral case."

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