CONF: The Restitution Dialogues: A Transnational Conversation on Cultural Loss, Return and Renewal, Tel Aviv, December 11-12, 2019

Programme:

Wednesday December 11

9:30     Gathering

10:00-12:00     Panel I:

Genocide and Restitution: A Comparative Framework
Chair: Leora Bilsky,
Tel Aviv University

Avraham Roet
A Holocaust Survivor and Active in Restitution of Stolen Art
The Washington Principles – A personal Perspective

Wouter Veraart,

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Beyond Property. A Reflection on the Value of Restitution of Looted Cultural Objects

Rajika Shah,
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
The Holocaust and Beyond: Successes, Limitations, and the Challenges of Property Restitution in United States Courts

Ümit Kurt,

Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
Legal and official Plunder of Armenian and Jewish Properties in Com- parative Perspective: The Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust

12:00-13:30     Lunch Break

13:30-15:30     Panel II:

Restituting Culture: Between Books and Artworks
Chair: Orit Lev-Segev,
Tel Aviv University

Anna Holzer-Kawalko,
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Beyond Restitution and Nationalization. German-Jewish Libraries in Czechoslovakia after 1945

Nawojka Cieslinska-Lobkowicz
,
Art Historian & Provenance Researcher
Polish,
Jewish,‘Post-Jewish’: National Narrative and Restitution of the Nazi-Confiscated Art in Poland
Shlomit Steinberg,

The Israel Museum
Constant Challenges and Partial Success – Provenance Research at the Israel Museum

Alexander Herman,
The Institute of Art and Law
Museums, Restitution and Colonial-era Artefacts: Law, Ethics and France’s Sarr Savoy Report

15:30-17:00     Panel III:

Who Owns Kafka?
Chair: Vered Lev-Kenaan,
University of Haifa

Nili Cohen,
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Who Owns Kafka? A Tale of Two Decisions
Shulamit Almog,
University of Haifa
Literature Alongside Law: Kafka and the Impossibility of not Hoping
Avigdor Feldman ,
Lawyer and Publicist
Kafka in Israel: ‘Ole chadash’ or Illegal Immigrant Looking for Asylum, or at least Work

17:30-19:00     Room 105 (S. E. Hoofien Hall)

Stage Reading from “Return to Haifa”, a play by Boaz Gaon
Based on the novella by Ghassan Kanafani

Discussion: Boaz Gaon, Ariel Shetreet, Zahiye Kundos

Thursday, December 12

09:30-11:15     Panel IV:

The Washington Principles as a Paradigm Change
Chair: Aharon Mor,
Researcher and publicist on Restitution of Jewish Property from the Holocaust-Era

Colette Avital,
Center Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel
Twenty Years to the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art: Was the Promise Realized?

Matthias Weller,

Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
After 20 years of the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art: Time for a Restatement of Restitution Rules

Eyal Dolev,

Independent Provenance Researcher
“Too much information” – Can Existing Nazi Documents Undermine a “Good” Nazi Looted Art Case?

11:30-13:00     Panel V:

Rethinking Private Law
Chair: Mayo Moran,
University of Toronto

Andrzej Jakubowski,
Institute of Legal Studies, University of Opole
Restitution-in-Kind of Cultural Property: A True Reparation for Heritage Loss?

Kristijan Poljanec,

University of Zagreb
EU Approach to the Issue of Restitution of Nazi Looted Art: The Past, Present, and Future
Tamar Megiddo,
Tel Aviv University
Human Rights and State Authority to Settle Private Property Claims in the Aftermath of Conflict

13:00-14:30     Lunch Break

14:30-16:30     Panel VI:

Cultural Restitution and Transitional Justice: Israel-Palestine
Chair: Natalie Davidson,
Tel Aviv University

Jennifer Orange,
University of Toronto
Museum Practices in Support of Transitional Justice
Kamal Moed,
Sakhnin Academic College for Teacher Education
The Sad Story of a Palestinian Educator’s Library
Said Abu Shaqra,
Umm el-Fahem Art Gallery
Art as Catalyst for Social Change
Rona Sela,
Tel Aviv University
Awda (Return): Palestinian Materials and Cultural Assets Looted and Hidden in Israeli Archives

16:30 Concluding Roundtable:

Restitution, Private Law and Transitional Justice
Mayo Moran, Wouter Veraart, Leora Bilsky, Alex Herman

Venue:
The Sonia and Edward Kossoy Conference Room (307)
The Minerva Center for Human Rights
Buchmann Faculty of Law
Tel Aviv University

Conference Organisers:
Leonora Bilsky, Mayo Moran, Alexander Herman

Conference Flyer