Museum Association of the State of Brandenburg, photo: Lorenz Kienzle

Funding for Provenance Research on Cultural Assets Seized in the Soviet Zone of Occupation and the GDR

This page provides information regarding the funding of projects about cultural property seized in the Soviet Zone of Occupation and the GDR for applicants. There is also information about previous research cooperations.

Contact

Do you have any questions?

Do feel free to get in touch with us directly – whether at the Foundation’s headquarters in Magdeburg or at our branch office in Berlin.
See here for answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ)

German Lost Art Foundation

Humboldtstr. 12
39112 Magdeburg
Germany
Phone:  +49 (0) 391 727 763 0
E-mail:  kontakt@kulturgutverluste.de
Social:

German Lost Art Foundation Berlin Branch Office

Seydelstr. 18
10117 Berlin
Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 391 727 763 0
E-mail: kontakt@kulturgutverluste.de

The Help Desk offers advice and assistance to victims of the Nazi regime and their descendants on questions relating to Nazi theft of cultural property. Serving as a central and initial low-threshold point of contact in Germany, it is aimed in particular at people whose place of residence is outside Germany and who are unfamiliar with German procedures, especially in connection with cultural federalism. The Help Desk seeks to provide support in taking initial steps as well as providing further contacts and information. We will also be happy to help initiate discussions with museums and other institutions.

German Lost Art Foundation, Branch Office
Dr. Susanne Meyer-Abich
Head of Help Desk

Seydelstr. 18
10117 Berlin
Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 30 2338493 85
E-mail: helpdesk@kulturgutverluste.de

Funding Research about Cultural Property Seizures in the Soviet Zone of Occupation and the GDR

Starting on 1 January 2026, the board of the German Lost Art Foundation agreed to offer funding for project applications in provenance research regarding property losses in the Soviet Zone of Occupation and the GDR.

Funding is available from 1 January 2026. It is offered to public and private institutions holding cultural property (museums, libraries, archives, and other collections). The objective is the investigation of collections to identify cultural property expropriated or lost in the course of persecution and arbitrary measures in the Soviet Zone of Occupation (SZO) and the GDR.

Funding shall contribute to identifying former owners, possible contexts of losses, and non-consensual acquisitions. The enquiry into the history of collections is closely associated with the history of the victims and the recognition of the injustice which occurred in the SZO/GDR between 1945 and 1990.

The focus of funding is provenance research about collection holdings (basic inspection [Erstcheck], short-term and long-term projects) as well as fundamental research.

Funding applications can be submitted for the deadline of 1 April 2026.
More information and the application documents will be available shortly.

Any questions about SZO/GDR project funding should be directed to the Department of Cultural Property Losses in Europe in the 20th Century.

Contact: Mathias Deinert and Sabine Kramer

To the press release from 12 December 2025 [German only]

To the new funding guidelines [German only]

Results

An overview of all research cooperations on the expropriation of cultural assets in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR that have been launched to date can be found using the German Lost Art Foundation’s project finder.

Documentation on this thematic complex is currently not one of the areas covered by the Lost Art database. The federal agencies responsible for the settlement of unresolved property issues (LÄRoV, ÄRoV) and the Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved Property Issues (BADV) continue to be solely responsible for restitution claims and returns.

List of authorities responsible for the settlement of unresolved property issues.

The German Lost Art Foundation’s knowledge of groups of cases, historical contexts and ownership histories of objects expropriated in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR is gradually being mapped out, in compliance with applicable data protection laws, in the research database Proveana. There is currently discussion as to whether to also make the restitution form available for objects expropriated during the era of the Soviet Occupation Zone/GDR that have since been restituted to their former owners.