Report of the Spoliation Advisory Panel
Report of the Spoliation Panel in respect of pieces of porcelain now in the possession of the British Museum, London and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
This is a report from the Spoliation Advisory Panel of their consideration of two claims by Mrs Bertha L Gutmann of Caldwell, New Jersey, against the British Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum in respect of pieces of porcelain in their collections. Mrs Gutmann makes her claim as the sole heir of her uncle Heinrich Rothberger (1868-1953), from whom she asserts the Gestapo seized the porcelain in Vienna in 1938.
Report of the Spoliation Advisory Panel (PDF 690kb)
The Panel’s conclusion is to recommend to the Secretary of State that, in the case of the British Museum (which is unable to deaccession objects from its collection), the Government should make an ex gratia payment to the claimant and the Museum should acknowledge the full circumstances of the acquisition of the item (as described in the Report) and that, in the case of the Fitzwilliam Museum, the item claimed should be restituted to the claimant. The Secretary of State has accepted the Panel’s recommendations as have both museums concerned.
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