Save the Date „The Future of Digital Provenance Research – Dreams and Realities“

The annual conference of the German Lost Art Foundation focuses on current methods, technologies and practical applications of digitally supported provenance research.
Save the Date
German Lost Art Foundation | photo: Stefan Deutsch
Register now for the certificate course in provenance research!
The Free University of Berlin is once again offering the continuing education programme ‘Provenance Research – On the Origins of Objects’. The deadline for applications is August 7, 2026.
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Linden-Museum Stuttgart | Foto: Dominik Drasdow
Honours for Prof. Dr. Gilbert Lupfer and Prof. Dr. Wiebke Ahrndt
Former Executive Chair and member of the Funding Committee receive the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon.
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BKM | Foto: Christina Czybik
New blog posts
You can find interesting new posts on provenance research on our blog.
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ULB Sign. Ll 702/138

Historical Contexts

The German Lost Art Foundation deals with cultural property that was once looted from its owners – during the Nazi era, the colonial period or in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR – as well as with items of cultural property that went missing in the course of the Second World War. The Foundation funds provenance research in order to clarify whether or not objects were seized unlawfully. Here we provide information on historical background and funding opportunities, as well as material for research purposes.
Schlosskirche Ellingen, Ellingen, April 1945
public domain, NARA #111-SC-204899
Nazi-looted Cultural Property
The National Socialist state enriched itself extensively and ruthlessly by expropriating the property of Jewish citizens in particular. Here you will find background information on Nazi art looting along with details of project funding and how to report restitutions.
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Help Desk for Enquiries about Nazi-looted Cultural Property
Login for those submitting notifications of restitutions
Pustaha, a "Spell Book" from the island of Sumatra, which is now in the Greiz Collection of Books and Engravings.
Museumsverband Thüringen e. V.
Colonial Contexts
Not only cultural goods were looted during the colonial period but in many thousands of instances also human remains. We offer information about seizure in colonial contexts, explain funding opportunities and provide materials.
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Paintings are taken out of a box while many people watch
Archiv SKD Fotoarchiv 304 Mappe 1 Foto 772 recto
Wartime Losses
During the Second World War and shortly afterwards, millions of items of cultural property were transferred to or from Germany. See here for more on the history of wartime losses along with the relevant materials.
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Saal Schloss Rötha
Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Sachsen
Soviet Occupation Zone / GDR
In the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR, cultural assets were looted, seized and also sold by the state. Here we introduce research into the expropriation of cultural property between 1945 and 1990.
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Project Statistics

Project statistics and a project finder provide an overview of all projects that the German Lost Art Foundation and its predecessor institution have funded in the past or are still funding. Using a map format and filters, it is possible to search for and display projects according to specific historical contexts or federal states, for example.
Thuringia Schleswig-Holstein Saxony-Anhalt Saxony Saarland Rhineland-Palatinate North Rhine-Westphalia Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Lower Saxony Hesse Hamburg Bremen Brandenburg Berlin Bavaria Baden-Württemberg All 628 Projects
Germany
628 Projects

100% of all German projects

All projects

short-term projects

long-term projects

of which Nazi-looted cultural property

short-term projects

long-term projects

Colonial contexts

short-term projects

long-term projects

Soviet Occupation Zone and GDR

short-term projects

long-term projects

of which Wartime Losses

short-term projects

long-term projects

Active Projects Completed Not yet begun
Total Number 98 518 9
Archive 1 8 0
Library 9 21 0
Institute 4 25 0
Cooperations between public and private institutions 0 2 0
Cooperations between individuals and public institutions 4 18 0
Museum 47 277 6
Privately owned institutions 0 16 0
Private person 7 12 1
University 16 54 0
Public administration 10 85 2
To the projects

Registration is required to view the final reports on Proveana.

Proveana Logo english optimized
Proveana is the German Lost Art Foundation’s database for provenance research. It is mainly dedicated to presenting the outcomes of research projects funded by the Foundation to the public at large.
to the research database Proveana
Lost Art English Logotype optimized
The Lost Art Database lists cultural property that was seized from Jewish citizens between 1933 and 1945 (“Nazi-looted cultural property”). It also contains reports on cultural goods displaced as a result of the Second World War.
to the Lost Art Database

News & Events

Painting by Gustav Schaffer, Bildnis David Leder [Portrait of David Leder]
Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz | photo: Jürgen Seidel

Exhibition "An Unfinished Story" opens

The art collection of Lola and David Leder comes into focus in Chemnitz.
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Open book, title page with owner’s stamps
IG Metall

SLUB Dresden and Burgstädt Municipal Library restitute books

Books from the library of the German Metalworkers’ Union are to be returned to IG Metall Chemnitz
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A researcher examining an object
LWL / Hanna Neander

LWL Museum restitutes two heraldic cushions

Further objects from the former art collection of Emma Budge returned to her heirs.
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Blog Posts

Graphic of Data Platform of ORA
ORA

We call it “journeys”

Open Restitution Africa (ORA) describes restitution as a pan-African process of remembrance, research, and the digital sharing of knowledge – an interview.
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View of the exhibition
Neue Nationalgalerie – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Foto: David von Becker © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025

From Lovis Corinth to Max Ernst

Two exhibitions in Berlin demonstrate the new perspectives that provenance research can open up for museum visitors.
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Publications

Book cover
German Lost Art Foundation
"Provenire" series: Volume 5 – "Die venezianischen Fälle"
"The Venetian cases" provide bridges between art, history, law and ethics. They are accompanied by aspects and models of solutions, as well as a sample restitution agreement. (in German language)
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Buchcover
Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste
The Periodical “Provenienz & Forschung” (2024)
This issue of the Periodical „Provenienz & Forschung" deals with the topic „1945". (in German)
To the series
Cover Working Paper 9-2025
Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste
Working Paper 9/2025
With issue 9/2025 of the Working Paper series, Jan Hüsgen presents „Missionary Societies and Religious Orders in German Colonies and Their Contribution to Ethnographic Collections“.
To the series