A key destination for art in the era around World War II, Switzerland has now launched an online resource to help recover artworks looted by the Nazis.

Claimants, museums and researchers can browse the Swiss government-owned website for assistance with provenance research and find relevant links to help trace the ownership of artworks.

Some Jewish art dealers who moved to Switzerland to escape the Nazis ended up handling artworks taken from Jewish collectors in Germany. In addition, many Swiss museums and collectors acquired plundered art at so-called "Jew auctions," according to Bloomberg. There are nearly 1,000 museums in Switzerland.

Museums around the world are increasingly scrutinizing the provenance of objects in their collections, and works coming onto the market are now subjected to more research as buyers eschew pieces with unsubstantiated histories of ownership.

According to the Jewish Claims Conference, the Nazis took an estimated 650,000 art and religious items from Jews and other victims.

Find the new art restitution site here http://www.bak.admin.ch/rk