海角大神

A movie star, four Republicans, and two New England Democrats have teamed up to aid a cause that everyone agrees with but that has been tricky to implement so far 鈥� the return of artwork stolen by Nazis to Holocaust victims and their families.

A Senate hearing on Tuesday discussed a bill giving聽聽six years after finding their artwork聽in museums or private collections to sue for its recovery, bypassing any statutes of limitations.

No one has objected to the bill鈥檚 moral grounding. The 1998 Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, the 2009 Terezin聽Declaration, and an international code for museums already assure a return of the stolen artwork now in the custody of museums, private collections, and governments.

But until now, these agreements have lacked the teeth for enforcement.

鈥淭wo-thirds of the [50] nations that have endorsed agreements regarding research, publicity and claims for Nazi-era looted art ,鈥� according to a 2014 report by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims聽Against聽Germany and the World Jewish Restitution Organization.聽

This bill, sponsored by a bipartisan team of senators from Connecticut, New York, South Dakota, Texas, and Utah, hopes to create new momentum to return the artwork.

Museums, including "the leading institutions in our nation ... have been complicit in this injustice,"聽said co-sponsor Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) of Connecticut at the hearing.聽"They have indirectly ."

The issue received public attention last year with the film 鈥�,鈥� in which a woman successfully fights the courts to retrieve a painting of her aunt from the Austrian government. The film鈥檚 star, Dame Helen Mirren, spoke at the hearing to support to the cause.

"Art lost in the Holocaust is not just important for its aesthetic and cultural value," Dame Helen told lawmakers. "Restoring physical parts of lost heritage to a Holocaust victim and their families is a moral imperative."

She continued, "For me and many families fighting, art restitution has little to do with potential financial gains....聽It gives Jewish people 鈥� and other victims of the Nazi terror 鈥� the opportunity to reclaim their history, their culture, their memories and, most importantly, their families.鈥�

By resetting the statutes of limitations, this law hopes to erode the legal defenses levied by museums and private collections that have made reclamation efforts prohibitively expensive and time-consuming.

鈥淚 wish this legislation had happened 10 or 20 years ago, but the fact is that it鈥檚 happened, it鈥檚 going to have a major effect on the future,鈥� World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder told the Senate panel Tuesday. 鈥淎nd many works of art 鈥� I use the expression 鈥榯he final prisoners of World War II鈥� 鈥� will finally find their rightful owners.鈥�