On the eve of the Prague conference, Bloomberg‘s Catherine Hickey surveys the progress and the prospects for restitution:

“Much too little has been achieved,” Georg Heuberger, the Jewish Claims Conference’s representative in Germany, said by telephone from Frankfurt. “Each country has done its own thing, and only one-third of the countries has made any effort. We find that very unsatisfactory.”

During Adolf Hitler’s 12-year rule, the Nazis stole about 650,000 artworks, the Claims Conference estimates. Almost 65 years after the end of World War II, the Art Loss Register, a database of stolen art, lists 70,000 works lost before and during the war that are still being sought by the owners. […]

“What we regret is that there has been no monitoring group to track progress,” Heuberger said. “We would like to have a commission or institute on an international level, outside national states, that discusses disputed cases.”

Russia, Hungary, France, Italy, Spain and some Scandinavian countries are among those which have failed to make good on commitments, Webber said. […]

“What we still need is more provenance research,” said Gunnar Schnabel, a Berlin-based lawyer who specializes in art restitution. “That is the most important thing. It would be great to have a worldwide public database, where museums enter all art of dubious provenance. Then all those affected could do their own research and save money on expensive lawyers.”

Nazi Loot Recovery Is Slow, Arbitrary, Claimants’ Groups Say (Bloomberg)