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Case Summary
Berg v. The Netherlands & Dutch Museums
Berg v. Kingdom of the Netherlands, No. 2:18-cv-3123 (D. S.C. 2020).
Précis
Prior to World War II, Benjamin Katz, a Jewish-Dutch art dealer, ran three art galleries through Firma D. Katz, a Dutch partnership with his brother Nathan Katz. They were well known in the Netherlands, particularly for the sales of paintings by the Dutch Golden Age Old Masters.
In 1940, shortly after the German invasion of the Netherlands, the Katz brothers were contacted by Nazi officials looking to buy art. Certain critics in the art world claim that the Katz brothers were more akin to collaborators of the Nazis but the Katz heirs alleged that, on the contrary, the Nazis exerted pressure on the Katz brothers to sell artworks to them at prices below market value at the time and forced them to facilitate transactions with other sellers as well. The brothers allegedly feared that ...
Associated Legal Decision(s)
Associated Statutes and/or Legislation
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