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Conference „1945 – The struggle over art. Cultural property between loss, relocation and restitution“

Ort:
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin | Unter den Linden 8, 10117 Berlin
Veranstalter:
Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste

We would like to cordially invite you to the spring conference of the German Lost Art Foundation:

“1945 - The struggle over art. Cultural property between loss, relocation and restitution“
on 31 March and 1 April 2025 at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
(Humboldt-Saal, Unter den Linden 8, 10117 Berlin)

Find the provisional programme here:

 

Note: The conference language is English (no translation).

Marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the conference is dedicated to the millions of works of art and items of cultural property that were lost as a result of Nazi rule and the war in Europe.

Some 25 speakers at this international event will shed light on efforts to return the looted property of persecuted Jews in Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic immediately after the war. The researchers also look at German and French museum collections that were relocated to protect them from destruction. The conference will not only focus on the restitution of Nazi-looted property and compensation but also on those items of cultural property that were never returned – because they were destroyed or went missing, for example, or else were retained by the Soviet Union as  compensation for its own losses.

After a phase of intense dialogue following the fall of the Berlin Wall, negotiations on the repatriation of artworks with Russia are currently on hold. Debate on the issue is ongoing, however, and new questions are being raised: what role can AI play in reconstruction, how do we focus on the theme of wartime losses in museum practice?

To conclude, a panel of high-calibre experts will discuss the problems involved in the restitution of wartime losses and Nazi-looted property that continue to apply today, decades after 1945.

We look forward to welcoming you at our conference and would ask you to sign up by 17 March 2025 at the end of this page.

Admission is free of charge.

You can also follow the conference live on our YouTube channel. Sign-up is not required for this purpose. The link will be posted on kulturgutverluste.de shortly prior to the conference. A recording of the entire conference will be available afterwards.

If you have any questions, please contact Heinrich Natho, contact person for events at the German Lost Art Foundation, on +49 391/727 763-23 or conference@kulturgutverluste.de

We look forward to your participation!

Your team at the German Lost Art Foundation

Publication:
In preparation for the conference, the Foundation dedicates its current issue of the periodical "Provenienz & Forschung" to the topic "1945" (in German language). The book can be ordered from Sandstein Verlag at https://verlag.sandstein.de or online and free of charge in open access on the publication platform of the Max Weber Foundation perspectivia.net: https://doi.org/10.25360/01-2024-00010

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Personal Details

We would like to point out that we process your personal data for the purpose of organising our event. This applies initially to participant management. In addition, we will broadcast the event live in audiovisual form on the German Lost Art Foundation’s YouTube channel and make it available afterwards on the Foundation’s website in audiovisual form as event documentation. Furthermore, there are plans to record the audience area as well as the stage, so there is a chance that you will appear on film. In addition, photographs taken during the conference may be published on the website of the Foundation and Berlin State Library and also be used for press purposes and in publications issued by the Foundation and Berlin State Library. By signing up for and attending the event, you consent to the above processing and use (in particular also on the internet) in accordance with Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR and Section 22 KunstUrhG (German Artistic Copyright Act). If you do not agree to this, we regret that you will not be able to attend the event. Your personal data will be deleted as soon as we no longer need it to fulfil the above purposes. For further information on data protection (such as details of the controller and the data protection officer, and your rights) see in our privacy policy.

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