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Article: WWII Finders And Weepers; Russia Exhibits Art `Rescued' From Nazis
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 28, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Unveiling art treasures that were hidden and believed lost for 50
years, Russian museum officials today opened an exhibit of paintings
taken from Nazi Germany that they said had been "rescued," not looted
or stolen.
The exhibit at the Pushkin Museum, the first of its kind since the
Soviet Union's collapse, was significant both for the breadth of
priceless art on display and for a new, pugnacious attitude toward
the issue of restitution.
Although Moscow promised in two treaties, signed in 1990 and 1992,
to return looted art, the Pushkin's director, Irina Antonova, today
did not conceal her view that the paintings should remain in Russia
as "compensation for the unprecedented damage" wreaked ...