AVIGNON.- Régine Elkan, a French national residing near Avignon, France, filed a large Holocaust-related art claim with the Austrian Commission for Provenance Research (Kommission für Provenienzforschung), an Austrian government body in charge of Nazi-looted art claims. The claim involves a prestigious XVIIIth Century French Furniture collection looted during the Vichy Regime in France, traced to the bequest of a large decorative art collection, donated by Henriette BOUVIER to the Carnavalet Museum in 1966.

In 2002, Elkan filed a claim against the Carnavalet Museum for the restitution of the “Bouvier” Collection with a French State Commission in charge of Holocaust-related asset claims, the « Commission d’Indemnisation des Victimes de Spoliations » (« CIVS »). Following the CIVS refusal to consider the claim, Elkan filed a lawsuit against the Office of the French Prime Minister, claiming that the CIVS, the Carnavalet Museum, and the City of Paris refused to disclose the provenance information of the Bouvier Collection.

Elkan then filed the claim with Austria because of Bouvier’s role as a prominent decorative arts dealer during the Vichy Regime, and because of the large trade in French Fine Furniture between France and Austria involving Nazi leaders such as Baldur Benedikt von Schirach, institutions like the Dorotheum and prominent art dealers like Friedrich Welz.

For a copy of the claim letter, please contact Régine Elkan by E-Mail at regine_elkan@yahoo.fr.