Provenance research in Heilbad Heiligenstadt

Provenance researchers of the museum association Museumsverband Thüringen e. V. conducted research into evidence of confiscation as a result of Nazi persecution at Theodor Storm Literature Museum and Eichsfeld Museum in Heilbad Heiligenstadt and recently presented their findings.

The Theodor Storm Literature Museum is one of the 17 museums involved in the “First Check” project being carried out by the Thuringia museum association and funded by the German Lost Art Foundation in the search for cultural property expropriated as a result of Nazi persecution. In this way, the museums association supports those member museums in conducting provenance research that do not otherwise have sufficient resources. As the Literature Museum was not founded until 1988, it was not certain until now whether the collection contained any acquisitions originating from the Nazi era.

As a result of the “First Check”, it is now known that there are some 1,000 items in the museum whose origins date back to before 1945 and which could therefore be Nazi-looted cultural property. The initial cursory examination of some 150 items did not reveal any evidence of unlawful seizure during the Nazi era, however. According to provenance researcher Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz, who is carrying out the research on behalf of the museum association, there is a need for further research into inscriptions, dedications and bookplates in books.

Katharina Taxis, research assistant at the Thuringian museum association’s Provenance Research Coordination Centre, conducted research at Eichsfeld Museum in Heilbad Heiligenstadt. An initial examination revealed that 463 items were added to the museum’s collections between 1933 and 1945. In the majority of cases, the origin and type of acquisition is not yet clear and will require further research, particularly with regard to the weapons and other objects which presumably belonged to victims of Nazi persecution. Two fragments of a Torah scroll found their way into the museum in the 1960s, for example. One Torah fragment was restituted in 1989 and handed over to the Jewish community of Thuringia, the other is still in the museum. Through research it has been possible to establish key provenance stages and theories as to the origin of the Torah fragment.

The two “First Checks” yielded valuable insights into Jewish life, the Shoah, forced labour and persecution in Eichsfeld under the Nazi regime. The museum artefacts are always linked to the biographies of regional personalities and local history. The director of the municipal museums in Heilbad Heiligenstadt, Dr. Gideon Haut, is seeking to incorporate these insights into the permanent exhibitions at the two museums.

The “First Checks” only involve an initial examination, so there is still need for further research to be done: dialogue on this is ongoing between the Thuringian museum association and the participating Heiligenstadt museums.

To the funded project: Auf der Suche nach NS-Raubgut an 17 Thüringer Museen [In search of Nazi-looted property at 17 Thuringian museums]