Oil painting
Landesmuseum Mainz, GDKE, photo: U. Rudischer
Nazi-looted cultural property

Restitution to the Kahn family

Oil painting from Mainz State Museum to be handed over on 11 July.

An oil painting from Mainz State Museum is to be presented to a descendant of the Kahn family from Lorsch (Rhineland-Palatinate) on 11 July 2024. The painting was identified in connection with a provenance research project funded by the German Lost Art Foundation which was organised by Mainz State Museum and the Rhineland-Palatinate General Directorate for Cultural Heritage, also supported by private research carried out on behalf of the family in the depot of the State Museum. The family’s request for restitution was approved by Mainz City Council.

The eight members of the Jewish family from Lorsch fled to Canada on 11 July 1939 to escape Nazi persecution in Germany. Their movable possessions were auctioned off publicly after they left – with the exception of an oil painting depicting the Melibokus, the highest hill on Bergstrasse in Lorsch. Based on an expert assessment of the painting as being “museum material”, it was transferred to Mainz Municipal Picture Gallery in 1943 by order of the Chief Finance President of Hesse. After the war, the family was compensated by the Federal Republic of Germany for the loss of their household effects.

The applicant and last living member of the family that fled in 1939 is Dr. Otto Kahn (aged 90). He will receive the painting on behalf of the whole family exactly 85 years to the day after his escape as a five-year-old. At the invitation of the Lorsch heritage and culture association and in co-operation with the municipal authority of Lorsch, representatives of the City of Mainz and Mainz State Museum will travel to Lorsch to officially hand over the painting. Otto Kahn, Elaine Troster-Kahn and other members of the family in the USA and Canada will be connected online.

Reservation requests to attend the event at Freiherrensaal in Lorsch can be sent to info@kulturverein-lorsch.de. Anyone interested can also follow the ZOOM broadcast. Here again, access can be requested at info@kulturverein-lorsch.de by no later than 11:00 a.m. on 11 July 2024. Those wishing to attend must register by name. Numbers are limited for both online and in-person attendance.

Date: 4:00 p.m. on 11 July 2024

Venue: Palais von Hausen, Freiherrensaal, 64653 Lorsch, Bahnhofstrasse 16

To the project