U.S. President Donald Trump signed legislation into law on Monday that helps Holocaust survivors and their families recover artwork looted by the Nazis.
The bill, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025, will remove a “sunset” provision from a 2016 law of the same name, which was scheduled to expire on Dec. 31. The measure ensures claims can continue to be heard and limits the use of procedural defenses—such as statutes of limitations—that have often led courts to dismiss cases without considering their merits.
The bipartisan bill passed Congress unanimously in March after clearing both chambers.
Joel Greenberg, president of the nonprofit Art Ashes, which assists families seeking to recover Nazi-looted art and which pushed for the legislation, told JNS that law is significant for Holocaust survivors and their families, particularly on the eve of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust remembrance day.
“It’s very important because it sends a very important message to the world that the crimes of the Holocaust, no matter how many years have passed, will not be forgotten,” he said.
Greenberg told JNS it is essential that the new law “has no sunset.”
“A number of museums, dealers and collectors knew the deadline and were not displaying the Nazi-looted art, so they were just waiting for the law to expire, and now it will never expire,” he said. “Many of the loopholes that the courts over the last 10 years have read into the HEAR Act have been closed by this new extension.”
One of the loopholes that was closed is a legal doctrine known as “laches,” under which courts dismiss a case when families wait too long to file a claim, even if the statute of limitations hasn’t expired, Greenberg said.
“Every survivor and their family will have the right to have their case heard purely on the merits, which means whether the art actually was looted from their families,” Greenberg told JNS.
Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, stated that it was “deeply meaningful” that the law was signed on Yom Hashoah.
“President Trump has consistently proven to be the best friend of the Jewish people ever to occupy the Oval Office, and his signature today ratifies the truth: the passage of time can never diminish the injustice of crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust,” he said.
He added that passing the law was one of the coalition’s top priorities for the 119th Congress. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) played an important role in the bill’s passage, Brooks said.
