Cultural Items Looted in the Nazi Era to be Returned
Published December 2009
Under the new Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act, which comes into force in January, all museums and cultural bodies in the UK will have the right to return artifacts stolen by the Nazi’s to their lawful owners or their heirs.
At present, the British Library and other national museums are legally barred from returning items, even if they agree it would be the correct thing to do.
The first item to be given back under the new law is a medieval book, the Benevento Missal, which has been in the British Library since 1947 after it was stolen from a cathedral in Italy during the Second World War.
The book of worship, which was written at the monastery of Santa Sofia for the nuns of a Benedictine monastery, dates from the early 12th century.
As the law only creates an exception for objects stolen between 1933 and 1945, the legislation will not affect the legal status of items such as the Elgin Marbles and the Benin Bronzes, which are subject to campaigns for their return to Athens and Nigeria respectively.
