1998 Washington Conference Principles
| Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art | |
|---|---|
| Presented | 3 December 1998 |
| Author(s) | Stuart E. Eizenstat |
| Subject | Nazi plunder |
| Purpose | Restitution of confiscated artworks |
The Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, formally the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art and sometimes referred to as the Washington Declaration is a statement concerning the restitution of art confiscated by the Nazi regime in Germany before and during World War II. It was released in connection with the Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets, held in Washington, D.C., United States, on 3 December 1998.
The conference was hosted by the United States Department of State and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It assembled participants from a 1995 New York symposium, The Spoils of War—World War II and Its Aftermath: The Loss, Reappearance, and Recovery of Cultural Property, along with others, and built on the Nazi Gold conference which had been held in London in December 1997.
The 1998 conference's aim was to discuss Jewish losses in particular, including artworks, books, and archives, as well as insurance claims and other types of assets. 44 governments, including the reunified Germany, sent delegates, as did thirteen international non-governmental organizations. The conference organizer was the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, Stuart E. Eizenstat, who had previously been United States Ambassador to the European Union, and its chairman was Judge Abner Mikva. U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright gave the opening address.
The statement includes eleven numbered principles, prefixed:
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