The Association of Art Museum Directors paid $8,000 to lobby elected representatives to oppose a bipartisan bill that would remove technical defenses used by museums in Nazi-looted art claims. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has expressed reservations about the bill. Mayor Eric Adams supports the HEAR Act and urged cultural institutions to commit to accountability and justice for Holocaust victims. The World Jewish Restitution Organisation wrote to the Met's board calling for a public withdrawal of opposition. The HEAR Act, introduced in 2016, allows claims over Nazi-looted art to be judged on merits rather than dismissed on technical grounds like statutes of limitation.
Mayor Adams supports the Hear Act, and we hope and expect that our city's cultural institutions share our strong commitment to accountability and justice, a City Hall spokesperson wrote in an email statement to The Art Newspaper. Here in New York City-home to the largest number of living Holocaust survivors in the world-the Adams administration stands firmly in support of the victims of the Holocaust and their families, including those who rightfully demand the return of treasured family possessions.
On 31 July The New York Times reported that the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) paid $8,000 to lobby elected representatives to oppose a bipartisan bill that eliminates some technical defences used by museums to foil claims for Nazi-looted art. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has also expressed reservations about the bill, the newspaper said, citing two congressional aides who attended meetings where those concerns were aired.
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