won an oscar for her portrayal of queen elizabeth ii, a marvelous over and 2015 she portrayed maria altman in the women in going from a film about the efforts to reclaim from the austrian government a famous painting. portrait. that was taken from her family during the holocaust.

for me, maria altman and for many families fighting to reclaim what rightfully belongs to them.rt restitution has very little to do with potential financial gains. art restitution is about preserving the fundamental human condition. it gives jewish people and other victims of the nazi terror the opportunity to reclaim their history, their culture, their memories, and most importantly, their families. the generation of jewish people that were burdened by the cruel acts of the nazi regime had the choice but to carry on with their lives. after what they had experienced, tremendous loss and deep sorrow, moving forward was the only viable path because the past held such unbearable pain. today we live in a freer world where a new generation has emerged with the resources and time to finally begin to deal with this issue and pursue justice. i mean it was incredible to me. i was doing a play in new york. the audience every night when i ame out from the stage door, every night people would approach me because the film was out at that time and say that is my family's story. that's the sto

so i u personally had to go on a journey portraying maria altman. i'm a child of the second world war. i was born in 1945. and the memory of the second world war was a a part of my history. but i never confronted the reality of what had happened in those days and in playing maria altman i had to put her memories into my mind. to do that, i had had to read a lot of research material and really relive those moments. that is why honestly i'm here now. it was that journey of playing maria that made the reality of those days so relevant to me today at this moment in time. it's a terribly sad fact that more than 70 years later victims of the holocaust and their families are still contemplating whether to seek restation for what was stolen from them and lost under the most horrible of circumstances. but a welcome of transparency, a lack of access to information concerning the location of stolen art and a lack of legal assurance that at least they can have their say in court, this discourages them from taking action. so when considering this issue, it's ess

unfortunately, most art cases do not end as positively as maria altman struggle to retrieve her uncle's paintings, the portrait, from the austrians. in spite of everything, this remains a very complex problem. with each of us here today, we would like to see every piece of stolen art returned to the rightful owner. we recognize that we victim might decide isn't equitable outcome is often quite different from what the respected possessor of stolen art believes is there. in many cases, a confiscated piece of art may have been purchased with all good intentions since the buyer was unaware that the work was stolen. 18 years ago in 1998, those of us committed to restitution concluded that international operation and standards were necessary to help how this art can be recovered. along with representatives from 45 nations, we developed what are today is referred to as the washington principles. i was there in the amount of excitement happened is truly spectacular. 11 years later, 2009, 46 nations including the united states issued a declaration which urged the signatures, adecco, to ensure th

so i personally had to go on a journey portraying maria altman. and the journey -- i mean, i'm a child of the second world war, i was born in 19 45 the memory of the second world war was very much part of my history. i never really confronted the absolute reality of what had happened in those days. and in playing maria altman i had to put her memories into my mind. to do that i had to read a lot of research material and really relive those moments. and that is why honestly i'm here now. it was that journey of playing maria that made the absolute reality of those days so relevant to me today at this moment in time. it's a terribly sad fact more than 70 years later victims of the holocaust and their families are still contemplating whether to seek restitution for what was stolen from them and lost under the most horrible of circumstances. but lack of transparency, a lack of access to information concerning the location of stolen art, and a lack of a legal assurance that at least they can have their say in court. this discourages them from taking act

so i in plays maria altman i had to put her memories in her mind and know exactly what that world was like that she was coming from. as i was playing about the role and quintly now being here, i'm here because -- because the emotional -- i mean all the time playing the role i was thinking supposing someone came to my door tonight, a group of guys thumped on the door, you know, broke it in, walked into my house and took all of everything that i own. all forced me to sign a piece of paper, basically sort of giving it to them all, settle selling it to them for a very small amount of money. i don't really own anything of great value like that, but the pure emotional thing. why is it -- was it wrong then and suddenly today only because it's, what, 7 a years later? suddenly we forgot about it. no, we don't forget about it. it's as wrong today as it was then, and the justice that we should be seeking for them should be sought for now. i don't see any difference anyway, it was thoughts like that that sort of made me feel very -- i'm not jewish, this didn't happen to my family, but i had to im