Eight personal stories of Nazi-looted art reveal the continued importance of postwar restitution
Published in conjunction with the Jewish Cultural Quarter and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Dispossessed chronicles a major museum project on cultural property that was stolen by the Nazis from Jewish owners in the Netherlands, with a particular focus on art, Jewish books and ritual objects. The book contains eight gripping personal stories that reveal the emotional impact of looting as part of a process of dehumanization and the way in which this injustice continues to resonate in subsequent generations. Throughout the book we are confronted with blank frames--symbolic of the looted belongings--with the frame's contents revealed later to evoke a feeling of emptiness and loss. By centering the personal stories of the original Jewish owners and their descendents, the volume makes clear that returning Jewish cultural property is still relevant today, and a form of redress.