Two current news items underscore the tremendous importance of retaining and making our cultural heritage available to future generations.

In a deeply disturbing development, Cornelius Gurlitt, the Munich man from whom German authorities confiscated an art trove they believe includes Nazi-looted works stolen from Jews, has said that he is not willing to return any of the art to previous owners. Fortunately, he may not have the legal standing to prevent their return. 

According to a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, there is strong evidence that Gurlitt not only hid the artworks from authorities, but that he lied about how his father had obtained them. But even a slight delay as a result of Gurlitt’s refusal should not be tolerated.

It is outrageous that in this 75th anniversary of both Kristallnacht and the infamous Munich Conference which vainly sought to appease Adolf Hitler, we learn of the possibility that priceless art removed from Jewish and other owners will not be automatically returned to their rightful owners or surviving family members.

Bavarian officials had taken more than 1,400 works of art, including masterpieces by Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall and Otto Dix, from Gurlitt’s apartment in early 2012 as part of a tax investigation. The canvasses had been hidden in a secret wall in his flat in Munich. The find was made public only two weeks ago. At least 500 of the pieces may have been stolen by the Nazis. 

Many thousands of pieces by major artists were stolen by the Nazis from their rightful Jewish owners, and there are several agencies which work to restore such artworks to their rightful owners. Gurlitt’s collection is but one example, and it’s essential that Bavarian authorities take immediate steps to assure that he will not be able to thwart efforts to return these paintings to their rightful owners. 

In a second recent controversy, Jewish groups are asking the United States government not to allow priceless Jewish works of art, precious religious and archaeological objects to be returned to the unstable regime in Iraq. When U.S.-led coalition forces ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the spring of 2003, they discovered, in the basement of Saddam’s secret police headquarters, a badly water-damaged trove of Judaica, items which were in danger of disintegration. The items included some 2,700 volumes and tens of thousands of documents, ancient Bibles and other objects tracing 500 years of Iraqi Jewish history

The items were in imminent danger of being a total loss, and so they were shipped to the National Archives in Washington where they were carefully dried and restored. Currently, some of the objects are on display at the National Archives in an exhibit which will close in January 2014. Members of the American Iraqi Jewish community, joined by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y, have urged the U.S. to retain custody of the objects lest they fall victim to the chaos in Iraq. Their voices should be heeded.

The Iraqi Jewish community was once large and vibrant with historical roots going back to the days of the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE. A major portion of the Jewish population of Judah (the Southern Kingdom) was taken into exile in Babylon, which evolved into present-day Iraq. A significant Jewish Diaspora culture flourished and the Babylonian Talmud was completed. In 1940, there were 130,000 Jews in Baghdad, accounting for one quarter of the city’s population; today only a handful remain.

Following the Iraq War, Baghdad’s museums were attacked and looted by mobs in the chaos that followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The thousands of items of Judaica now in the custody of the U.S. National Archives, if returned to the unstable and violence-wracked nation, could very well be looted and destroyed—or again stored in facilities which would not protect them from moisture, mold and mildew. 

And the current Iraqi state, with virtually no Jewish presence, is not likely to be sympathetic to the condition, preservation or access to these valuable items.

The U.S. National Archives, along with the American Jewish Archives, the Israeli Museum of the Diaspora and the Smithsonian Institution all have the necessary settings and archival protocols to assure that the heritage of the Iraqi community will not be endangered.

It is essential that German authorities take steps to assure that Nazi-looted artworks are promptly returned to their proper owners and that the Iraqi Jewish Archives remain in U.S. custody until their preservation can be assured.