“A critical examination of historical injustice”

The German Lost Art Foundation looks back on a decade of successful work. Founded on 1 January 2015, the German Lost Art Foundation has established itself as a central funding institution for provenance research in Germany and as a point of contact for questions relating to the seizure of cultural property. It has provided funding totalling nearly 60 million euros to support more than 400 provenance research projects. The aim of this work is to clarify whether cultural assets were seized as a result of persecution, for example, thereby enabling them to be returned to their rightful owners. The Foundation celebrated its anniversary on Tuesday (10 December) with a festive event at its headquarters in Magdeburg.

Among those who congratulated the Foundation on its anniversary were Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and the Media: “For almost ten years, the German Lost Art Foundation has made a vital contribution to the implementation of the Washington Principles, which the Federal Republic of Germany made a commitment to uphold in 1998. As a central point of contact, it supports museums, archives and libraries in tracking down Nazi-looted property in their collections. This meticulous work has already resulted in numerous restitutions. Provenance research also strengthens our country’s culture of remembrance by highlighting, acknowledging and naming instances of past injustice. I would like to thank the German Lost Art Foundation and its team most sincerely for this valuable work.”

Federal, state and local authorities set up the Foundation in 2015 with the aim of promoting provenance research, especially at institutions such as museums, universities, libraries and archives in Germany. The focus continues to be on projects relating to “Nazi-looted property”, i.e. cultural assets that were extorted or stolen under the Nazi regime, in particular from persecuted Jewish citizens. The Lost Art database operated by the Foundation (www.lostart.de) is today one of the most important tools for identifying objects looted during the Nazi era and facilitating restitution, and it has enabled numerous returns.

In addition to provenance research into Nazi-looted property, the Foundation also promotes research into cultural goods and collections from colonial contexts. Since 2019, projects have been funded to carry out research into the origin of cultural artefacts and human remains from former colonial territories. The Foundation also supports basic research into cultural property lost in the Soviet occupation zone and the GDR as well as wartime losses during the Second World War.

The German Lost Art Foundation receives institutional funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media; this is also the source of funding for its projects. Project result are documented in the database Proveana at www.proveana.de.

Gilbert Lupfer, Director of the German Lost Art Foundation: “By carrying out research into the biographies of objects, provenance researchers also bring to mind their former owners – people who suffered persecution and frequently lost their lives. This applies to those persecuted under National Socialism but also to the victims of oppression in the GDR and those in the former colonial territories. Provenance research is indispensable for a lively culture of remembrance and in order to undertake a critical examination of historical injustice. Even in times of tight public budgets, it should not be negotiable.”

Rainer Robra, Minister of State and Minister for Culture of Saxony-Anhalt: “The German Lost Art Foundation sets standards in terms of how we deal with the past, demonstrating in a very concrete way how we can learn from history. I am delighted that Magdeburg and Saxony-Anhalt have had a key role to play in this connection for some time now.”

For more facts and figures about the German Lost Art Foundation, see our factsheet.

Photos of the event are available for download among our press images in Download Kit 2.