[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 156 (Sunday, September 28, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RETURN THE HERZOG COLLECTION TO ITS RIGHTFUL HEIR

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                           HON. NITA M. LOWEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Sunday, September 28, 2008

  Mrs. LOWEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my continued deep 
frustration and concern about the injustice suffered by one of my 
constituents, Martha Nierenberg, an American citizen and Holocaust 
survivor whose family's artwork was stolen by the Nazis and now is in 
the hands of the Hungarian government. Mrs. Nierenberg has fought 
tirelessly to regain her family's legacy, yet the Hungarian government 
has failed to take morally appropriate steps to set historic wrongs 
right by returning Mrs. Nierenberg's artwork.
  Mrs. Nierenberg grew up in Budapest, surrounded by the paintings 
collected by her grandfather, Mor Lipot Herzog, an avid art collector 
who amassed one of the largest private collections of art in Hungary. 
When Hitler's troops invaded and occupied Hungary in March 1944, the 
Hungarian police and the Nazi SS stole the Herzog family art collection 
as part of the Nazi genocidal efforts to strip Jews of their lives and 
property. A young Mrs. Nierenberg escaped Hungary and eventually became 
an American citizen.
  After WWII, Hungary, under control of a totalitarian government, came 
into possession of paintings that had been part of the Herzog 
Collection. Some of these paintings were even displayed in state-owned 
museums in Budapest and were described as belonging to the Herzog 
Collection. Despite agreeing to the 1998 Washington Conference on 
Holocaust Era-Assets, the government of Hungry has still not returned 
all of the Nierenberg family's art.
  Under the Washington Principles, which the government endorsed, 
Hungary is required to try to come to a just and fair resolution of 
claims to Holocaust looted property. Today, I call on President Solyom 
and Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany to take a moral stand, rectify past 
wrongs, and return the Herzog collection to its rightful heir, Martha 
Nierenberg. This injustice has gone on for far too long and must be put 
right immediately.

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