(JNS.org) World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder on Thursday, Jan. 30, urged German officials in Berlin to work toward returning Nazi-looted art to its rightful Jewish owners. The art pieces “are the last prisoners of World War II… They should be returned to the victims of the Holocaust and their heirs,” Lauder said, according to the Associated Press. Lauder said many of the stolen art pieces still hang in German museums today. In 2012, more than 1,400 works of art were discovered in the Munich apartment belonging to the son of a Nazi-era art dealer. On Jan. 29, Germany’s top cultural affairs official, Monica Gruetters, said the country is seeking to double its $19.7 million state funding dedicated to searching for Nazi-looted art.