France Strives to Return Nazi-Stolen Art to Its Owners

The Nazis’ plundering of hundreds of thousands of works of art from the private collections of Jews from 1933 to 1945 is considered the biggest art heist in history. The case hasn’t been solved. Since the 1950s, the rightful owners of roughly 2,000 artworks recovered by the Allies and later sent to the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, and other French museums have remained a mystery.

Now the French government is beginning one of its most extensive efforts to return the stolen art, which includes pieces by Monet, Matisse, Renoir, and Rubens. Starting in March, a team of government historians, regulators, archivists, and curators will work almost full-time to track down families who lost their paintings. “It may be one of our last chances to find the owners,” says Jean-Pierre Bady, a former director at the French Ministry of Culture who helped assemble the group.