Why the Nazis Looted Art and Why it Still Matters 

As the Nazis devised and implemented the Final Solution, they also expropriated a wide range of assets from Jews across Europe-real estate, investments and mobile assets. This massive theft included several hundred thousand works of art, the result of confiscation and forced sales within the Third Reich and in occupied territories. The aftermath of Nazi art plunder continues to present legal and ethical challenges in the art world, as the heirs of Jewish victims seek restitution of looted paintings and other objects now held by museums, galleries or private collectors.
Dr. Elizabeth Campbell is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Denver and Director of the Center for Art Collection Ethics. She is the author of Defending National Treasures: French Art and Heritage under Vichy (Stanford University Press, 2011). With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, her forthcoming book (Oxford University Press) examines the recovery of Nazi-looted art, comparing restitution practices in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In all three cases, postwar governments held unclaimed works for display in state-run museums, extending the dispossession of Jewish owners wrought by the Nazis and their collaborators.