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You can find new articles on provenance research in our blog.
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ULB Bonn, Sign. Fc 516/3
Apply for projects now!
The application deadline for long-term funding ends on October 1, 2025.
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German Lost Art Foundation | photo: Stefan Deutsch
Explanatory Videos
What is the Lost Art Database? What happened during the looting of cultural goods and collections in colonial contexts? We offer short videos that explore key questions in provenance research.
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New Working Paper
In Working Paper 9/2025, Jan Hüsgen focuses on missionary societies and religious orders in former German colonies and their contribution to ethnographic collections.
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German Lost Art Foundation | photo: Stefan Deutsch

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 601 Projects
Germany
601 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 100 481 20
Archive 0 8 0
Library 8 18 3
Institute 3 24 2
Cooperations between public and private institutions 0 2 0
Cooperations between individuals and public institutions 6 14 2
Museum 44 261 7
Privately owned institutions 1 15 0
Private person 7 10 2
University 16 50 1
Public administration 15 79 3
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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

Library of German Lost Art Foundation
German Lost Art Foundation | photo: Stefan Deutsch

“Kolloquium Provenienzforschung” on the latest Working Paper

The German Lost Art Foundation invites you to the next event within the series "Kolloquium Provenienzforschung" on 14 July 2025.
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Pissarro painting surrounded by eight people
Kunsthalle Bremen

Painting by Camille Pissarro to remain in Bremen

Kunsthalle agrees on just and fair solution with heir of persecuted Jewish owner.
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Research team examines object
Aquazoo Löbbecke Museum

First check of colonial contexts at Aquazoo Düsseldorf

Löbbecke Museum presents findings from research project.
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Blog Posts

Dedication in a book
Nora M. Kißling, Berlin

Who was Tomas Freud?

On the difficulties of identifying previous owners – an example from the Wolff Collection in Halberstadt
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walls in an exhibition
Klaus Pichler

„Theft“

An unusual double exhibition is currently on at the Jewish Museum Vienna and the Vienna Museum.
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Exhibition room
Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz | photo: Violetta Wakolbinger

Answer to 'The Monuments Men'

The exhibition The Journey of the Paintings at Lentos Art Museum Linz provides a clear and precise account of Hitler’s Sonderauftrag Linz and the consequences of Nazi art theft in the Salzkammergut region.
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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)
To the series
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