Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025
Key claim: The Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025 permanently extends the 2016 HEAR Act, removes the December 31, 2026 claim-filing deadline, expands U.S. court jurisdiction over foreign states and defendants, and limits time-based and international-comity defenses for Nazi-looted art recovery claims.
Abstract
(S1884 · 119th Congress) Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025 This act permanently extends and expands judicial authority under the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016. The law allows and establishes procedures for civil claims and causes of action to recover artwork and other property lost between 1933 and 1945 because of Nazi persecution. Among the changes, the act removes the deadline for filing civil claims or causes of action. Currently, the filing deadline is December 31, 2026. (Claims must still be filed within six years of the claimant’s discovery of the property in question.) The act permits courts to exercise jurisdiction over civil claims or causes of action against a foreign state without regard to the nationality or citizenship of the alleged victim. The art or property at issue must still have a connection to the foreign state’s commercial activities in the United States. Additionally, the act authorizes nationwide service of process, which allows courts to exercise personal jurisdiction over defendants in any judicial district where they may be found, reside, have an agent, or transact business. Finally, the act limits the defenses that may be asserted against civil claims or causes of action, including by prohibiting defenses based on the passage of time, including equitable defenses such as laches (i.e., unreasonable delays); and discretionary bases for dismissal that are unrelated to the merits of the claim, including international comity (i.e., deference to the laws of other countries). These changes apply to pending and future civil claims or causes of action. Latest action (2026-04-13): Became Public Law No: 119-82.
Why this matters
The Act preserves and strengthens a judicial pathway for Holocaust survivors, heirs, and Jewish communities to pursue recovery of Nazi-era expropriated art in U.S. courts—an access-to-justice question that would otherwise have closed at the end of 2026. By narrowing statute-of-limitations, laches, and international-comity defenses and broadening jurisdiction over foreign-state holders, it shifts procedural leverage toward claimants while raising contested questions about foreign sovereign immunity, museum and good-faith-purchaser interests, and the reach of U.S. courts over disputes centered abroad.