In 2023, Claudia Roth demanded that the Bavarian State Painting Collections agree to a review by an advisory commission that issues a recommendation on restitution disputes and enforces the Washington Principles.

Due to the slow processing of restitution claims, this process will be replaced with a court of arbitration which, according to Roth, will be able to provide a “faster and more independent” decision without concealment.

On February 21, a chalk drawing by Adolph von Menzel, which was seized from the Breslau entrepreneur and art collector Leo Lewin, who was subjected to Nazi persecution, was returned to Lewin’s heirs after it was found in a federal art collection.

“We want to return all works of art that came into the federal government’s possession through similar ways,” said Roth in a statement reacting to this latest restitution.  “We want just and fair solutions for the victims of Nazi Germany.”