Supreme Court: Justices Hear Two Cases Involving Nazi Forced Sale of Art by Jews at Greatly Undervalued Prices

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The U.S. Supreme Court has heard oral arguments in two cases related to the Nazis’ forced sale of valuable art by Jews at extremely reduced prices. One case involves the heirs of Hungarian Jews; the other involves heirs of German Jews. The cases raise legal questions about whether such claims involving foreign countries can be adjudicated in U.S. courts. As of this writing, the Supreme Court has not yet issued a decision.

Quotes: “The Nazi regime stripped German Jews of the protection of the rule of law from the moment Hitler took power and declared explicitly that Jews were not ‘German.’ ” | “It is beyond serious debate that Nazi Germany took property in violation of international law by systematically targeting its Jewish citizens to make their property vulnerable for seizure.”

Sources:Wikipedia, Los Angeles Times

Learn more about Nazi looting of artwork on Wikipedia. >>

Read “Supreme Court weighs heirs’ claims over forced Jewish art sales during Nazi era” >>

Watch “Heirs to medieval art collection sold to Nazis seek restitution” [6:02]. >>

Photo: WEMU

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“[T]he foundations for extremism usually are held in check by various restraints. Societies are not liberal, moderate, progressive, and free because almost all their citizens – let alone their politicians — are liberal, moderate, progressive or committed to the freedoms of others.

“But societies consistently avoid extremism when the infrastructures of freedom are strong: when key institutions and norms encourage a more decent, rights-respective, lawful politics; when powerful social movements and independent media hold leaders to account, expose rather than reinforce political fantasies, and champion the rights of the vulnerable; and when information is produced and scrutinized by scholars, civil servants, and non-governmental organizations devoid of either government repression or vested interests.

“Yet no infrastructure is rigidly immovable, and once key components are eroded and weakened, once sections of the political and cultural elite attempt to mobilize the foundations of extremism, the system of restraints can swiftly collapse.

“While genocide on the scale of the Holocaust is historically exceptional, its central lesson is that the broader danger of extreme atrocities is not. In the words of the great historian Ian Kershaw, the Holocaust ‘lit a warning beacon that still burns brightly: it showed how a modern, advanced, cultured society can so rapidly sink into barbarity… It showed what we are capable of.’ Only by rejecting false narratives of conflict and polarization, and maintaining systems of rights and freedoms for all, can we hope to prevent that capability from once more becoming a reality.”

— Jonathan Leader Maynard in his incisive article “Could It Happen Here?: The Holocaust and Atrocities in the 21st Century” To read the entire article, click here.