Tel Aviv Museum drops event with Christies after widespread criticism

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(July 2, 2023 / JNS)

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, a nearly 100-year-old institution that hosted the signing of Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, has come under fire in recent months from Holocaust survivors for its decision to co-organize an event with Christies.

The world’s largest auction house is hosting a series of events this year called Reflecting on Restitution. The programs mark the 25th anniversary of the agreement that emerged from the 1998 Washington Conference on Holocaust-era Assets, a joint program of the US State Department and the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

But Christie’s has sparked controversy for a recent sale of jewelry that once belonged to Heidi Horten, widow of billionaire Helmut Horten, who made her money by partly taking over former Jewish businesses during World War II.

It would be a huge disgrace and a real disgrace if the museum went ahead with this conference, said Joel Greenberg, a Pennsylvania-based philanthropist and businessman whose foundation works closely with Holocaust survivors. , at JNS last month.

On July 2, Tania Coen-Uzzielli, director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, told JNS that the museum was ending the event.

The museum’s management and board said: “The Tel Aviv Museum is open to criticism and sensitive to public opinion and has therefore decided not to organize the conference: ‘Reflections on Restitution’ in partnership with Christies auction house in December 2023,” Coen-Uzzielli told JNS.

The statement appeared to misrepresent the name of the Christie’s series, which is “Reflecting on Restitution” and which continues at press time to list the museum as hosting an event in “late winter 2023”.

“It is important to note that the museum has a long-standing professional relationship with Christies and that the conference was planned long before the Heidi Horten sale,” Coen-Uzzielli told JNS.

“The conference was intended to address and highlight for discussion important topics related to the seizure and return of works of art. The conference would have brought together international and local families of Holocaust survivors, historians, legal professionals and scholars from various disciplines,” she added.

We respect the decision of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Edward Lewine, vice president of communications at Christies, told JNS in response to several questions.

Our Reflecting on Restitution program has been planned over the years to mark the 25th anniversary of the Washington Principles, and we believe deeply in its goal of bringing together historians, scholars, scholars, legal experts, families, artists and others to share stories, ideas and perspectives, added Lewine.

David Schaecter, president of the Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA, said the foundation was “relieved” the Tel Aviv museum pulled out of the event.

“May the laudable decision of the Tel Aviv Museums signal an end to this damned practice among governments, institutions and individuals who are willing to participate in laundering Holocaust perpetrators, collaborators and profiteers for power, l money and prestige,” he said.

Schaecter added that the foundation seeks to educate Christie’s leaders “to take a stand against glorifying the shameful history of Helmut Hortens’ involvement and profiting from Nazi crimes against the Jewish people.”

“Christies refused and bought into the narrative, which we have seen time and time again, that the passage of time and the ‘charitable purposes’ of the ex-Nazi foundation enabled Christies to hold the sale,” he said. he adds. “This episode should send a clear message to all auction houses, museums and private collectors that every collection and every sale will be scrutinized. The passage of time cannot be allowed to sanitize the crimes of the Nazis against the Jewish people. »

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