EUROPE WITHOUT CLAIMS? OWNERSHIP OF COLLECTIONS, MEMORY AND POLITICS (Europa bez roszczen? Problemy wlasnosci zbiorow, pamiec i polityka)

The article discusses the problem of cultural goods and works of art displaced as a result of WW II, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe. Since the 1990s restitution of collections, including library collections, has been an important problem. Restitution is based on documentation work, registration of losses, source publications and release of previously unknown archive records. Various solutions concerning restitution are illustrated with examples from Germany, Russia, Hungary, Poland and the Ukraine. A separate international problem involves the property of Holocaust victims - its existence is being revealed, it is being restored to the heirs of former owners, general principles of solutions applied in the process are being developed. The authoress also presents Poland's efforts to recover various collections from Germany, Russia, the Ukraine and the United States in the context of currently binding agreements and legal acts, as well as cooperation between various states with respect to the documentation, protection, conservation and editing of disputed collections.