1. GERMANY: PAST AND PRESENT
Even now in 2006, sixty years after the end of World War II, the
subject of cultural assets seized under Nazi persecution (“looted
art”) and displaced during the war (“trophy art”),
continues to be of interest to politicians, historians, legal experts, and
many others. Thus, at a meeting in January 2005, Germany's Advisory
Commission for the return of cultural assets seized as a result of Nazi
persecution, particularly those cultural assets removed from Jewish
ownership, recommended the return of four paintings presently in the
possession of the Federal Republic of Germany to the community of heirs of
Julius Freund.1
Also in January 2005, Germany's
government, all federal states and central organizations of municipalities
called on German public bodies not to slow down in their search for
cultural assets seized as a result of Nazi persecution and to report any
items found to the Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste
(Coordination Office for Lost Cultural Assets) for display as part of its
Internet database
www.lostart.de.
2 See statement there as per February 13, 2006.
Furthermore, in February 2005, Franz von Lenbach's painting
“Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn” which had been seized
by the Nazis was identified through
www.lostart.de
and returned to the heirs of Bernhard Altmann.
3 The painting was part of the Remaining
Stock CCP (“Linzer Liste”) within
www.lostart.de enlisting cultural objects with
provenance gaps in the administration of Germany's Bundesamt zur
Regelung offener Vermögensfragen (Federal Office for the settlement
of ownership issues). The object was on loan from the Bundesamt and in
possession of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Köln (Germany).
2. U.S.A.: THE INTERNATIONAL PROVENANCE
RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM
International aspects of the search for looted and robbed art were
highlighted by the “International Provenance Research
Colloquium” organized by the American Association of Museums in
Washington, D.C. on November 15 and 16, 2004, underlining the importance
of this work both on the national and international level.
Whereas the Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets had adopted
principles for finding and returning lost art over six years earlier,4
the Colloquium dealt with a wide
variety of national and international activities in specialist provenance
research.
The Colloquium was opened by Erik Ledbetter (Project Manager, American
Association of Museums, Washington, U.S.A.) who discussed efforts
undertaken in the U.S. to identify assets whose origin was not fully
proven. In this connection, Mr. Ledbetter also referred to www.nepip.org, an Internet database listing finds in
over 100 U.S. museums.
The next speaker, Lynn Nicholas (Historian/Researcher, Washington
D.C., U.S.A.), described her experience gathered in compiling material for
her universally acclaimed book “The Rape of Europa.”5
Lynn Nicholas: The Rape of Europa, New York
1994.
She assessed and praised national and international efforts
undertaken in the new media such as the Internet in order to identify
objects in the field of looted art.
(i) National Archives
The first major section of the conference was devoted to national
activities. Helen Wechsler (Director International and Ethics Programs,
American Association of Museums, Washington D.C., U.S.A.) dealt with
problems in determining the provenance of assets and their description.
For the latter, she said, the Association was trying to establish uniform
standards. She criticized plans for one central website which was nearly
impossible to establish. Marina Mixon (Spoliation Research Adviser,
National Museums Directors' Conference, London, U.K.) spoke about the
efforts of British museums to find lost art in their own inventories. The
author (Director, Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste,
Magdeburg, Germany) gave an overview of the Koordinierungsstelle's
work with particular reference to a proposed provenance module in www.lostart.de and the metasearch project. This
metasearch project is intended to combine several national databases on
looted art while preserving the autonomy of each of these databases, which
would be lost by establishing one central system. Boguslaw Winid (Deputy
Ambassador Polish Embassy, Washington D.C., U.S.A.) spoke about the return
to Poland of cultural assets seized during the war and the Polish
documentations describing lost art (“Wartime Losses”), which
has now grown to five volumes, with the sixth planned for 2005.
(ii) Current Research in Germany
The next section of the Colloquium dealt with present research in
Germany. As an introduction, Harald König (Bundesamt zur Regelung
offener Vermögensfragen—Federal Office for the settlement of
ownership issues, Berlin, Germany) described the underlying legal basis
and practical experience gained in the scope of the law of compensation of
Nazi victims of persecution. Uwe Fleckner (Institute of Art History
Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany) spoke about his work in documenting
the so-called “entartete Kunst” (“degenerate art”)
which aimed, among other things, at compiling and listing all assets in
one catalogue. Friedegund Weidemann (Researcher, National Gallery, Berlin,
Germany) dealt with the Gallery's efforts in the field of provenance
research and related cases of restitution and return.
Nancy Yeide (Curator of Records, National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C., U.S.A.) opened the section entitled “Nazi Collections”
with a report on her current research project aimed at fully cataloguing
the Göring collection. She said that details on assets now in the
collections of the Bavarian state were already given in Ilse von zu
Mühlen's publication “Die Kunstsammlung Hermann
Görings.”6
Ilse von zur
Mühlen: Die Kunstsammlung Hermann Görings—Ein
Provenienzbericht der Bayerischen Staatsgemäldesammlungen,
München 2004.
Birgit Schwarz (Independent art historian,
Vienna, Austria) introduced her book “Hitler's
Museum”
7 Birgit Schwarz: Hitlers
Museum, Wien 2004.
and reported on how she had located sources of
information. She particularly referred to the activities of Hitler's
“art agents” Posse
8 Hans Posse
(1879–1942) acquired cultural objects for Hitler for the planned
“Führermuseum” in Linz.
and Voss.
9 Hermann Voss (1884–1969); successor of
Hans Posse (note 8).
Bettina Bouresch (Historian, Rheinisches
Archiv- und Museumsamt, Pulheim, Germany) presented details of collection
activities below the level of Posse and Voss with particular reference to
the Rhine Province. Ute Haug (Department of Provenance Research, Hamburger
Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany) spoke about the Ribbentrop
10 Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893–1946);
Reichsaußenminister (“Secretary of State”) from 1938 to
1945.
collection and said that related material would serve as a
basis for a larger research project dealing specifically with
Ribbentrop's personality and individual assets in the collection.
(iii) Collectors and Collections
Following was a section on “Collectors and Collections”
which was opened by Stephanie Tasch (Provenance Researcher,
Christie's, Berlin, Germany) with a report on selected female
collectors during the Weimar Republic. Michael Hall (Curator, London and
Exbury House, London, U.K.) described worldwide efforts to compile a
central register of cultural assets owned by more than five generations of
the Rothschild dynasty. The Austrian provenance researcher and author of
“Was einmal war,”11
Sophie
Lillie: Was einmal war—Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen
Wiens, Wien 2003.
Sophie Lillie, spoke about the Jenny Steiner
collection, which had been taken away from the rightful owners in Austria
and was now being reconstructed using the most diverse sources. Esther
Tisa Francini (Provenance researcher, Zurich, Switzerland) referred to a
number of German art collectors who did business also in Switzerland and
even the U.S.A., a subject that has been little studied so far. Here
Francini saw room for further research, which would help to reconstruct
the collections of these dealers. Vanessa Maria Voigt (Provenance
Researcher, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany) described provenance
studies at the Sprengel Museum where since 2002 she has dealt with aspects
of art seized under Nazi persecution. Madeleine Korn (Provenance
Researcher, London, U.K.) talked about the relationship between the art
dealer Alphonse Kann and his employee Michael Stewart who played a major
role in selling many of Kann's items.
(iv) Archives and Sources
Opening the section on “Archives and Sources”, Lucian
Simmons (Senior Director, Sotheby's, London, U.K.) discussed various
sources of provenance research in Britain. Patricia Teter (Senior Editor,
Getty Center for the Study of Collecting and Provenance, Los Angeles,
U.S.A.) described her work with a number of provenance sources as
difficult because the aim was to include media information, private notes
and information given by contemporaries. These sources were to be listed
and published, including publication on the Internet. Marc Masurovsky
(Research Coordinator, Conference of Jewish Materials Claims against
Germany, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.) spoke about the organization's
history and its work, one example being the negotiations on compensation
to be paid to forced laborers. Robert Holzbauer (Head, Provenance
Research, Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria) and Ruth Pleyer (Researcher,
Vienna, Austria) discussed provenance research in Austrian archives and
various domestic sources of data. Genealogical research could benefit
particularly from detailed registration office lists kept in Austria and
the VUGESTA12
VUGESTA = Verwertungsstelle
für jüdisches Umzugsgut der Gestapo (The Gestapos Office for the
disposal of the property of Jewish Emigrants).
registers.
(v) Judaica and Jewish Museums
Under the heading of “Judaica and Jewish Museums”, Karen
Franklin (Director, Judaica Museum, Riverdale, N.Y., U.S.A.) described her
costly and lengthy search for information on a Seder plate, which could
finally be returned to the owners. Bernhard Purin (Director, Jewish
Museum, Munich, Germany) reported on the transfer to the U.S. of cultural
assets confiscated during the war. The presentation of Michael Busek
(Manager, Jewish Museum, Prague, Czech Republic) dealt with efforts to
identify books in Prague's Jewish Museum and return them to their
owners. The total number of books involved was 190,000, of which 158,000
had been returned to date. The remainder had been listed in a database.
Daniel Dratwa (Curator, Jewish Museum of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium) spoke
about books of Jewish provenance in his country and said that research was
only at the beginning. He mentioned a total of about 500,000, of which
less than one percent had so far been returned.
(vi) The Art Trade
Angelika Görnandt (Provenance Researcher, Bundesamt zur Regelung
offener Vermögensfragen—Federal Office for the settlement of
ownership issues, Berlin, Germany) was among the speakers in the last
section devoted to the art trade. She discussed the development of
purchase prices in Berlin's art market between 1933 and 1945 and
concluded, among other things, that prices for top works increased about
ten times between 1933 and 1944 and those in the medium price segment
about twenty times. Katja Terlau (Provenance Researcher, Cologne, Germany)
talked about the biography of Hildebrandt Gurlitt, an art dealer, and his
role exemplified for the case of selling individual paintings to the
Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, Germany.
3. SUMMARY
One of the outstanding results of the Washington Colloquium was the
presentation of the work and progress made in individual countries during
the last years in a very well-organized and highly structured sequence. No
provision was made for detailed discussion, which, however, did not
detract from the usefulness of the conference, as almost all participants
were experts with the required know-how. There was time for them, after
the presentations, to talk to speakers directly on subjects of specific
interest.
Summarizing, it can be said that there are a wide variety of national
and international activities going on in the field of provenance research,
some of which are quite specialized. In the last few years, a number of
databases have been established and research projects started. Future
efforts should therefore focus, on networking the information resources
available. Here metasearch can play an important role with regard to
databases on the one hand, while on the other, e.g. Germany's
Koordinierungsstelle—according to its task—would have to look
for findings of third parties that could collect lost and found
information on looted art and trophy art in order to bring both sides
together.
Just how important provenance research is was evident not only during
the Colloquium but also one day after it had closed, when the Austrian
Embassy organized a meeting entitled “Looted Art: Nazi Methodology
in Austria and other European Countries.” There were presentations
by Sophie Lillie (Austria), Nancy Yeide (U.S.A.), Robert Holzbauer and
Ruth Pleyer (both from Austria), and the author (Germany) which met with
intense interest by the audience.
At the beginning of the Colloquium, Lynn Nicholas had pointed out that
databases were becoming ever more important and said, with a view to
restitution and compensation, that “justice depends on
information.” There is no better way to describe the aims of the
Washington Conference, the numerous national and international activities,
and the purpose of the upcoming work in this field.
