The Olmstead Legacy

The authorized agencies to recoup Nazi confiscation and ‘Fire sale” transactions received fewer than 20 percent of the value of Jewish assets stolen by Nazis. Of the $220 billion confiscated by the Nazi’s, $115-175 billion (at 2005 prices) remains unreturned. Even the highly publicized resurgence of restitution in the 1990s (when grandchildren sought restitution) resulted in the return of only three percent of assets. This book explores the remedies of retrieval of stolen property. Case law is a Byzantine labyrinth. The courts (both local and foreign) have different laws, different standards of provenance and different statutes of limitation. In addition, after 75 years ago is difficult to trace provenance if sold many times over. Can this massive tragedy, unequaled in human history, seek adequate restitution?