Israel asks Germany to return art to Jewish hands
Deputy FM Elkin says Israel requested involvement in investigation into stolen artwork, suggests Germany should give heir-less works to Jewish or Israeli institution
Israel is calling on Germany to give Jewish-owned art from a trove discovered in Munich to Jewish or Israeli museums if heirs are not found.
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Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin said Sunday Israel has requested to join the German investigation into the roughly 1,400 artworks found in the apartment of a reclusive Munich collector last year.
German prosecutors are checking whether up to 590 works were seized by the Nazis. Several heirs of Jewish collectors persecuted by the Nazis have already come forward to claim individual artworks in the collection.
The collector says he inherited the works from his father, an art dealer commissioned by the Nazis.
Elkin said Israel suggested Germany give any Jewish-owned art with no locatable heirs to an institution like the Israel Museum in Jerusalem or a Jewish museum in Germany.
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