UN should probe Bavaria’s handling of Nazi-looted art – expert

The German state of Bavaria should allow UNESCO to handle and investigate the scandal involving Nazi-looted art, Russian historian Ilya Altman has told RT.

His comments follow a recent Sueddeutsche Zeitung report alleging that the Bavarian State Painting Collections (BStGS) deliberately concealed information on at least 1,000 works of art with questionable origins to avoid restitution claims.

According to internal documents obtained by the newspaper, 200 works – including pieces by Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso – were labeled ‘red’, indicating confirmed Nazi loot taken from mostly Jewish owners during World War II. Another 800 were marked ‘orange’ as suspected of being looted. The assessment was completed in 2020, but the report claimed that no efforts had been made to return the works. Also, since Germany signed the Washington Principles in 1998, pledging to restore Nazi-looted art, Munich museums have only returned 24 pieces, the outlet claimed…