Many thanks!

Today we say farewell to our Executive Chair Prof. Dr. Gilbert Lupfer as he enters his well-deserved retirement. He initially served on a voluntary basis as Academic Executive Chair from April 2017, and from May 2020 as the Foundation’s sole full-time Executive Chair. In this capacity he has been instrumental in defining our Foundation with his exceptional scholarly expertise and great personal commitment.

As a distinguished academic, Gilbert Lupfer has been an important voice in provenance research, acting as a bridge-builder in a complex and sensitive field. With his expertise he played a key role in developing the German Lost Art Foundation into an institution that is recognised internationally.

Alongside its core focus on supporting provenance research into cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, the Foundation has added further areas of activity since 2017, and Gilbert Lupfer made a major contribution to their establishment. In 2019 the funding programme “Cultural Goods and Collections from Colonial Contexts” began its work, while the research database Proveana went online in 2020. In addition, the “Help Desk for enquiries relating to Nazi-looted cultural property” was set up in Berlin.

We thank Gilbert Lupfer most warmly for his outstanding services to our Foundation. For this new chapter of his life, we wish him excellent health, happiness and many enriching moments!