Motion to File Brief Amicus Curiae (with Brief in Support & Amicus Brief) Filed in Yale University v. Konowaloff, 09-466 [United Stated District Court (Connecticut)], of the University of North Dakota Center for Human Rights and Genocide Studies, Michael Berenbaum, Christian Defrancia, Edward M. Gaffney, Jr., Gregory S. Gordon, Michael J. Kelly, Jordan J. Paust, Pammela A. Saunders, Krista Sigler, Ronald G. Suny, and Fritz Wienschenk

Abstract

The brief was filed in a case failed by Yale University to preempt demands for restitution of The Night Cafe by Van Gogh by Pierre Konowaloff, whose family's property was confiscated by Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution on Lenin's orders in 1918. The Russian Revolution and rise to power of Josef Stalin resulted in the deaths of over 20 million people. Cold War politics and subsequent diplomacy never allowed for resolution of the vast majority of claims to confiscated property. The museum received the painting as a bequest in 1961. The deeply researched amicus brief counsels the court to analyze the legal defenses of the Act of State doctrine and New York time-bar principles in light of true historical context, rather than knee-jerk, broad assumptions about historical events.

Keywords: Art, Theft, Cultural Property, Holocaust, History, International, Act of State, Separation of Powers, Jurisdiction, Russia, Russian, Time Bar, Statute of Limitations, Limitation, Laches