Victims of spoliations
It is possible to get reparation for assets spoliated in France during the war (shop, apartments, etc...). This program concerns the victims themselves or their heirs. This reparation extends to certain Jews spoliated in Tunisia.
Movable and Financial Spoliation 
The CIVS, commission pour l’indemnisation des victimes de spoliation (commission for the compensation of victims of spoliation) was set up under the recommendation of the Mattéoli Commision, by the decree #99-778 of September 10, 1999, modified by the decree #2000-932 of September 25, 2000 and is in charge of reviewing the individual applications presented by the victims or their heirs for the reparation of damages caused by spoliation of assets because of the anti-Semitic legislation enforced during the Occupation by the occupier and the Vichy authorities.
The Commission is not a jurisdiction and is in charge of developing appropriate measures for reparation or compensation. It can express any useful recommendation, especially in terms of compensation.
These recommendations are then sent to the General Secretary of the Government. Under the decree of September 10, 1999, only damages caused by spoliation of material and financial assets give right to reparations, restitution or compensation. Moral damages are not covered by this reparation program.
For example, spoliation may concern furniture or valuables in an apartment that was looted, but also professional equipment related to a craft activity or to a business.
Additionally, only spoliation that happened because of the anti-Semitic legislation enforced during the Occupation by the occupier and by Vichy authorities are concerned.
In 10 years, CIVS reviewed 24,000 applications and allocated nearly 450 million Euros of reparations.
Applications should be sent to:
C.I.V.S.
1 Rue de la Manutention
75116 PARIS
Website : www.civs.gouv.fr (available in 4 languages)
The Commission is not a jurisdiction and is in charge of developing appropriate measures for reparation or compensation. It can express any useful recommendation, especially in terms of compensation.
These recommendations are then sent to the General Secretary of the Government. Under the decree of September 10, 1999, only damages caused by spoliation of material and financial assets give right to reparations, restitution or compensation. Moral damages are not covered by this reparation program.
For example, spoliation may concern furniture or valuables in an apartment that was looted, but also professional equipment related to a craft activity or to a business.
Additionally, only spoliation that happened because of the anti-Semitic legislation enforced during the Occupation by the occupier and by Vichy authorities are concerned.
In 10 years, CIVS reviewed 24,000 applications and allocated nearly 450 million Euros of reparations.
Applications should be sent to:
C.I.V.S.
1 Rue de la Manutention
75116 PARIS
Website : www.civs.gouv.fr (available in 4 languages)
Art works – MNR catalog
Art works were stolen in France during WWII and sent to Germany.
The MNR, "Musées Nationaux Récupération" (National Museums Recovery) are art works recovered in Germany at the end of WWII and which, because their legitimate owner had not been found, were entrusted to the Management of French Museums by the Office of Private Assets, under the decree of September 30, 1949.Following the provisions of this decree, the Management of French Museums, organized, in order to allow potential heirs to recognize their asset, an exhibition of these 2000 works (approximately 1000 paintings, plus sculptures, drawings and art objects) at the National Museum of Compiegne Castle from 1950 to 1954. The 1949 decree also planned that the MNR would be recorded in temporary inventories, distinct from the inventories of the national collections: that has been done by the different departments concerned and these inventories are naturally open to the public.
In order to keep the MNR available to their potential heirs and to answer to the general movement of interest to which these works (spoliated for some but negotiated for most on the Parisian art market during the last war) have been subject for several years, the Management of French Museums has decided to publish an illustrated catalogue to help the researches conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in charge of investigating the restitution requests.
While waiting for the publication of this book, which will be edited by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Union of National Museums), the MNR catalogue is progressively made accessible on the website www.culture.gouv.fr as identity index cards with images. This initiative is consistent with the action led by the Management of the French Museums during the last world war and after the conflict to protect the French private collections and then to facilitate the restitution of the works recovered in Germany: it should be noted that 45,000 of them were recovered by their legitimate owner at the time.
Website: www.culture.gouv.fr
For applications related to the spoliation of art works in France, contact:
C.I.V.S.
1 Rue de la Manutention
75116 PARIS
Website :www.civs.gouv.fr (available in 4 languages)
the Claims Conference program : Reconstructing the Record of Nazi Cultural Plunder : A survey of the Dispersed Archives o the ERR.
In response to complaints from the art world of the difficulty and expense in viewing the scattered and complex records needed to ascertain whether an artwork was looted, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) has initiated and supported a series of interlocking projects that provide greater access to and information about the records of the main Nazi agency responsible for looting cultural valuables in Nazi-occupied countries. Original Nazi files of the looting of hundreds of thousands of art, books, archives, and other cultural valuables have now been located and documented in the latest project to make accessible the Nazis’ own records of their plunder. Reconstructing the Record of Nazi Cultural Plunder: A Survey of the Dispersed Archives of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) has been published online at www.iisg.nl/publications/errsurvey. The detail with which the ERR – the special operational task force headed by Adolf Hitler’s ideological henchman Alfred Rosenberg -- documented the art, archives, books, and Judaica it plundered has proved essential for recovery efforts. However, after WWII, original ERR documents were scattered and today are found in 29 repositories in 9 countries. This survey documents the current locations of all ERR records, details their contents, and provides links to online sources.
Published by the International Institute of Social History, in association with the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam, with generous support of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference).
Bank-related Spoliation and Compensations
Bank-related spoliation and compensation are governed by the Washington Agreement, concluded between the French and American governments on January 18, 2001.
Until February 2, 2005, applicants whose bank account(s) had not been found in the archives were allowed to sign an affidavit. This document allowed them to get a lump-sum of $3,000 (two $1,500 rounds of compensation).
Since February 2, 2005, it is still possible to lodge a claim in respect of bank-related spoliation, but compensation will be paid only on accounts/safe deposit boxes that are effectively identified in the archives and as having never been compensated or restituted after the war. If the archive searches are inconclusive, the heirs and successors of spoliated persons may still qualify for a fixed sum of $3,000 on the basis of evidence of credible proof certified by affidavit. If the claimant has not attached an affidavit to the file, the CIVS will send him one for completion.
If the searches have proved positive, compensation granted will be allocated according to different criteria, as appropriate:
• Up to $4,000 if the adjusted balance on the account/safe deposit box is less than $3,000 or is not known. This sum of $4,000 is comprised of the adjusted balance on the account/safe deposit box, made up to $3,000, plus an additional payment of $1,000.
• Up to $10,000 if the adjusted balance on the account/safe deposit box is between $3,000 and $10,000
• Up to the actual adjusted balance on the account/safe deposit box if this is in excess of $10,000.
For example, if a balance of 1 euro (sum certified in francs in 1941 and adjusted in euro) is identified, this balance will be made up to $4,000. If the balance is equivalent to €5,000 after updating, it will be made up to $10,000. Finally, if a balance of €15,000 is identified, this sum is re-adjusted and restituted in full, subject to the decision of the Commission.
It should be made clear that when compensation is granted, the balances of the assets compensated are charged:
• To the banks where the assets concerned prove to be personal assets (bank book, checking account, safe deposit box, etc.)
• To the State where the assets concerned are connected to a corporation and had been under “provisional administration” in the context of the Aryanization procedures (corporate accounts, safe deposit boxes opened by the Occupying Forces, etc.)
In both cases, the supplementary payments are made from the bank funds provided under the Washington Agreement, namely:
• From Fund B up to $4,000 per account, if the balance is less than $3,000.
• From Fund A up to $10,000 per account, if the balance is between $3,000 and $10,000.
Incidentally, it should be noted that 70% of the balances on retrieved accounts are of less than $3,000.
For your information, the CIVS applies the same priority criteria to bank-related claims as it does to material claims. Thus the files of the following persons will be processed first: direct victims of spoliation, aged 75 years and older, suffering from serious illness or severe financial hardship, without omitting from the number of priorities, those which the Washington Agreement recognizes as pertaining particularly to bank-related claims.
For applications, contact:
C.I.V.S.
1 Rue de la Manutention
75116 PARIS
Website : www.civs.gouv.fr (available in 4 languages)
Until February 2, 2005, applicants whose bank account(s) had not been found in the archives were allowed to sign an affidavit. This document allowed them to get a lump-sum of $3,000 (two $1,500 rounds of compensation).
Since February 2, 2005, it is still possible to lodge a claim in respect of bank-related spoliation, but compensation will be paid only on accounts/safe deposit boxes that are effectively identified in the archives and as having never been compensated or restituted after the war. If the archive searches are inconclusive, the heirs and successors of spoliated persons may still qualify for a fixed sum of $3,000 on the basis of evidence of credible proof certified by affidavit. If the claimant has not attached an affidavit to the file, the CIVS will send him one for completion.
If the searches have proved positive, compensation granted will be allocated according to different criteria, as appropriate:
• Up to $4,000 if the adjusted balance on the account/safe deposit box is less than $3,000 or is not known. This sum of $4,000 is comprised of the adjusted balance on the account/safe deposit box, made up to $3,000, plus an additional payment of $1,000.
• Up to $10,000 if the adjusted balance on the account/safe deposit box is between $3,000 and $10,000
• Up to the actual adjusted balance on the account/safe deposit box if this is in excess of $10,000.
For example, if a balance of 1 euro (sum certified in francs in 1941 and adjusted in euro) is identified, this balance will be made up to $4,000. If the balance is equivalent to €5,000 after updating, it will be made up to $10,000. Finally, if a balance of €15,000 is identified, this sum is re-adjusted and restituted in full, subject to the decision of the Commission.
It should be made clear that when compensation is granted, the balances of the assets compensated are charged:
• To the banks where the assets concerned prove to be personal assets (bank book, checking account, safe deposit box, etc.)
• To the State where the assets concerned are connected to a corporation and had been under “provisional administration” in the context of the Aryanization procedures (corporate accounts, safe deposit boxes opened by the Occupying Forces, etc.)
In both cases, the supplementary payments are made from the bank funds provided under the Washington Agreement, namely:
• From Fund B up to $4,000 per account, if the balance is less than $3,000.
• From Fund A up to $10,000 per account, if the balance is between $3,000 and $10,000.
Incidentally, it should be noted that 70% of the balances on retrieved accounts are of less than $3,000.
For your information, the CIVS applies the same priority criteria to bank-related claims as it does to material claims. Thus the files of the following persons will be processed first: direct victims of spoliation, aged 75 years and older, suffering from serious illness or severe financial hardship, without omitting from the number of priorities, those which the Washington Agreement recognizes as pertaining particularly to bank-related claims.
For applications, contact:
C.I.V.S.
1 Rue de la Manutention
75116 PARIS
Website : www.civs.gouv.fr (available in 4 languages)