Federal Office for External Restitutions
|
Federal Office for External Restitutions |
|
|---|---|
| State level | Federation |
| position | Higher federal authority |
| Supervisory authority | Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media |
| Headquarters | Koblenz |
| Authority management | R. Cloeren |
The Federal Office for External Restitutions ( BAR ) is a German higher federal authority in the area of responsibility of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media , based in Koblenz .
Legal basis and tasks
The Federal Office was founded in 1955. Under international law, the legal basis was the transitional agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the three Western powers. In its fifth part, Article 1, it says:
"With the entry into force of this contract, the Federal Republic of Germany will set up and equip an administrative office to research jewelry, silverware and antique furniture (provided that the individual items are of considerable value) as well as cultural goods according to the provisions contained in this part and in the appendix has to record and register, if these objects and cultural goods during the occupation of an area by the troops or authorities of Germany or its allies or by their individual members (on orders or without orders) by force (with or without the use of force) Theft or requisition or other forms of forced possession and removed from this area. "
The appendix to the fifth part reads as follows:
"Section 1 (1) The Federal Government will set up the administrative service provided for in paragraph (1) of Article 1 of the preceding part as the higher federal authority."
The announcement by the Federal Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Finance states:
"According to § 1 of the appendix to the fifth part of the treaty to regulate issues arising from war and occupation - transition contract - (in the amended version according to List IV to the protocol on the end of the occupation regime in the Federal Republic of Germany signed on October 23, 1954 in Paris - Federal Law Gazette 1955 II pp. 301, 405) in conjunction with Article 1, Paragraph 1 of Part Five of the Treaty, the Federal Office for External Restitutions was established as the higher federal authority. According to Articles 1, 2, 4 and 5 and the Annex to Part Five of the Transitional Agreement, it has the task of
a) to search for jewelry, silverware and antique furniture as well as for cultural goods, to collect and restitute them, provided that these valuables were forcibly removed by the troops or authorities of Germany or its allies or by their individual members during the occupation of a territory and the further conditions described in more detail in Article 1 of Part 5 of the transition agreement are met,
b) to compensate persons entitled to restitution in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of Part Fifth of the Transitional Agreement for items to be restituted that were either used or consumed in Germany after their identification in Germany but before they were returned to the person entitled to restitution, or before they were received by the claimant uplifting government or at a competent agency of one of the Three Powers for the purpose of delivery to the person entitled to restitution have been destroyed, stolen or lost.
The Federal Office belongs to the portfolio of the Federal Minister of Finance. It has its seat in Bad Homburg vdH, Louisenstraße 63. For the procedure for the registration and processing of claims based on Articles 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the fifth part of the transfer agreement and for the satisfaction of decisions based on such claims, the Provisions of the Annex to Part Five of this Agreement.
The Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Federal Minister of Finance
Footnote, paragraph 2, italics: Now Frankfurt / Main, Adickesallee 32 "
The external restitution was based on general international law and did not require any specific National Socialist persecution. The Arbitration Commission for Goods, Rights and Interests in Germany could be appealed against the decisions of the Federal Office . According to Walter Schwarz , the economic importance of the external restitution was not significant.
Details on the scope of the work done by the Federal Office can be found in the Federal Government's response of June 27, 1997 to a small inquiry on the subject of looted art . The Federal Office, whose work was largely considered to be completed, has returned to public interest in the course of the intensified discussion of looted art in the 2010s .
Authority designation in other languages
- English: Federal Office for External Restitution
- French: Office fédéral des restitutions externes
- Spanish: Oficina Federal de Restituciones Exteriores
literature
- Stephan Articus et al. (Ed.): State manual. The Federal Republic of Germany. Federation. Edition 2016. Heymanns, Cologne 2016, ISBN 978-3-452-28662-8 , p. 191.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Organization of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Retrieved October 22, 2019 .
- ↑ Koblenz, main building of the castle, cf. Oeckl, Pocket Book of Public Life, Germany 2016. 65th edition. Festland Verlag, Bonn 2015, ISBN 978-3-87224-140-5 , p. 319.
- ↑ Announcement on the fifth part of the treaty regulating issues arising from war and occupation. From June 8, 1955 (Federal Law Gazette IS 271).
- ↑ Juris
- ↑ On this and on the following text Walter Schwarz : Restitution according to the laws of the Allied Powers. In: (= Federal Minister of Finance , Walter Schwarz (ed.): The reparation of National Socialist injustice by the Federal Republic of Germany. Vol. I) Beck, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-406-03665-1 , p. 342 ff.
- ↑ Bundestag printed matter 13/8111, p. 3 ff. Accessed on February 20, 2014.
- ↑ Language Service of the Federal Foreign Office. Retrieved February 18, 2014.