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Chase Professor Anglim Kreder Files Motion in Nazi-looted Art Case
Associate Professor Jennifer Kreder
Associate Professor Jennifer Kreder

Feb 27, 2009 - On March 2nd, 2009 Professor Jennifer Anglim Kreder will testify at the United States Department of State. Professor Kreder was invited to testify before a panel led by the State Department's Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues J. Christian Kennedy. This panel is gathering information in preparation for a conference hosted by the Government of the Czech Republic in Prague, June 26-30, 2009. The conference will address certain unresolved Holocaust asset issues, including Looted Art and Immovable Property. The U.S. government, through the State Department, will participate in this international conference.

Prior to coming to the Chase College of Law Professor Kreder was involved in Nazi looted art litigation, and maintains an interest in this area. She is currently involved in an appeal dealing with this issue that is before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

A motion to file a pro bono amicus brief in a critical Nazi-looted art case on appeal in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals from the Southern District of New York, Bakalar v. Vavra, was filed by Professor Kreder with former Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat (President Clinton's Deputy Head of the Treasury who spearheaded the treaty negotiations that largely resolved the Holocaust class actions in the late 1990s) (Of Counsel) and Edward McGlynn Gaffney, Jr. (Professor and former Dean, Valparaiso University School of Law) (Co-Counsel). Prospective amici are well-known leaders of Jewish community organizations, Holocaust educators, artists and art historians. The brief seeks to assist the court by providing historical context to evaluate claims to ownership of art that was looted during the Nazi era, and by encouraging correct decisions about applicable choice of law (conflicts) in such cases.

The brief and motion are both available for viewing: Brief, Motion

Thomas Kline and L. Eden Burgess of Andrews Kurth LLP also filed a motion for leave to file another amicus brief on behalf of the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the Jewish Community of Vienna, and the Lawyers Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation to assist the court by providing relevant information about the Swiss good faith purchaser defense. Art looted during the Nazi era often was trafficked for foreign currency through Switzerland, which had shorter limitation periods and allowed title to pass to good faith purchasers under certain conditions.