Bettina Stefanini took it a step further as she announced that an independent panel of experts would evaluate the research and make binding decisions on whether to return items originally owned by Jews and deemed lost due to Nazi persecution.
The panel is led by Andrea Raschèr, a lawyer and former Swiss culture ministry official who specialized in looted art and who said they are all committed to making decisions based on international standards including the 1998 Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. “It was very important to me to ensure that the commission has complete autonomy in its decision-making and that the foundation is obliged to follow its decisions,” he said, adding that the foundation will enshrine this obligation in its regulations.
Stefanini said she hopes Raschèr’s new panel will encourage open discussion in Switzerland. “We want to be courageous and talk about things that are not talked about,” she said. “If we push the themes of provenance and ownership, then we strengthen that discourse around museums.”
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