Museumsberg Flensburg puts on exhibition about provenance research

Museumsberg Flensburg is showing the latest results of its provenance research in an exhibition entitled Sammeln verpflichtet. 10 Objekte - 10 Geschichten (“Collecting obliges. 10 objects – 10 stories”).

13. July 2023

Contact

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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.
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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

Berlin
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) 391 727 763 0
E-mail: helpdesk@kulturgutverluste.de

Ten objects in the permanent exhibition, some of which entered the collection via suspicious channels, tell stories about the art trade, “degenerate” art, unlawful confiscations, covetous ambitions, art theft and Adolf Hitler’s plans for a “Führer Museum” in the Austrian city of Linz.

Light is also cast on the actions of former museum directors. Fritz Fuglsang, who held office from 1928 to 1961, demonstrably purchased unlawfully seized cultural assets from Jewish ownership and was not overly conscientious in abiding by laws and regulations, as was the case with the painting Justitia by the Baroque painter Jürgen Ovens: the Goddess of Justice literally went on trial herself because a Danish art dealer imported the painting into Germany without permission in 1953 and sold it to the Flensburg museum. Today, the impressive painting hangs in the stairwell of one of the museum buildings, Heinrich-Sauermann-Haus. There is also incriminating evidence against Fuglsang’s assistant and successor Ellen Redlefsen. Thanks to funding from the German Lost Art Foundation, Museumsberg Flensburg has been investigating the provenance of its collection for Nazi-looted art since 2016.

The exhibition will be on display at Heinrich-Sauermann-Haus, Museumsberg Flensburg until 31 December 2023.

See: https://www.museumsberg-flensburg.de for details.