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New articles in our blog shed light on provenance research into Nazi-looted property from very different perspectives.
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Stadtarchiv München, DE-1992-FS-PK-STR-00231
New explanatory videos
The German Lost Art Foundation has published three more videos on important topics in provenance research - free to download from this website.
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German Lost Art Foundation | photo: Stefan Deutsch
Conference 2024 available online
All contributions to the 2024 annual conference “Provenance Research and Photography” are now accessible in the website's media library.
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Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste | Foto: Lena Grundhuber
Modified guidelines of project funding
Modified conditions for applying the project funding from January 2, 2024.
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Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste | Foto: Stefan Deutsch

Historical Contexts

The German Lost Art Foundation deals with cultural property that was once looted from its owners – during the Nazi era, the colonial period or in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR – as well as with items of cultural property that went missing in the course of the Second World War. The Foundation funds provenance research in order to clarify whether or not objects were seized unlawfully. Here we provide information on historical background and funding opportunities, as well as material for research purposes.
Schlosskirche Ellingen, Ellingen, April 1945
public domain, NARA #111-SC-204899
Nazi-looted Cultural Property
The National Socialist state enriched itself extensively and ruthlessly by expropriating the property of Jewish citizens in particular. Here you will find background information on Nazi art looting along with details of project funding and how to report restitutions.
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Help Desk for Enquiries about Nazi-looted Cultural Property
Login for those submitting notifications of restitutions
Pustaha, a "Spell Book" from the island of Sumatra, which is now in the Greiz Collection of Books and Engravings.
Museumsverband Thüringen e. V.
Colonial Contexts
Not only cultural goods were looted during the colonial period but in many thousands of instances also human remains. We offer information about seizure in colonial contexts, explain funding opportunities and provide materials.
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Paintings are taken out of a box while many people watch
Archiv SKD Fotoarchiv 304 Mappe 1 Foto 772 recto
Wartime Losses
During the Second World War and shortly afterwards, millions of items of cultural property were transferred to or from Germany. See here for more on the history of wartime losses along with the relevant materials.
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Saal Schloss Rötha
Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Sachsen
Soviet Occupation Zone / GDR
In the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR, cultural assets were looted, seized and also sold by the state. Here we introduce research into the expropriation of cultural property between 1945 and 1990.
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Project Statistics

Project statistics and a project finder provide an overview of all projects that the German Lost Art Foundation and its predecessor institution have funded in the past or are still funding. Using a map format and filters, it is possible to search for and display projects according to specific historical contexts or federal states, for example.
Thuringia Schleswig-Holstein Saxony-Anhalt Saxony Saarland Rhineland-Palatinate North Rhine-Westphalia Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Lower Saxony Hesse Hamburg Bremen Brandenburg Berlin Bavaria Baden-Württemberg All 558 Projects
Germany
558 Projects

100% of all German projects

All projects

short-term projects

long-term projects

of which Nazi-looted cultural property

short-term projects

long-term projects

Colonial contexts

short-term projects

long-term projects

Soviet Occupation Zone and GDR

short-term projects

long-term projects

of which Wartime Losses

short-term projects

long-term projects

Active Projects Completed Not yet begun
Total Number 111 434 10
Archive 0 8 0
Library 5 17 0
Institute 5 21 0
Cooperations between public and private institutions 1 3 0
Cooperations between individuals and public institutions 5 14 1
Museum 48 241 4
Privately owned institutions 4 12 0
Private person 7 5 0
University 19 43 3
Public administration 17 70 2
To the projects

Registration is required to view the final reports on Proveana.

Proveana Logo english optimized
Proveana is the German Lost Art Foundation’s database for provenance research. It is mainly dedicated to presenting the outcomes of research projects funded by the Foundation to the public at large.
to the research database Proveana
Lost Art English Logotype optimized
The Lost Art Database lists cultural property that was seized from Jewish citizens between 1933 and 1945 (“Nazi-looted cultural property”). It also contains reports on cultural goods displaced as a result of the Second World War.
to the Lost Art Database

News & Events

Library of German Lost Art Foundation
German Lost Art Foundation | photo: Stefan Deutsch

Online information on project funding for research in the field of colonial contexts

The Department Cultural Goods and Collections from Colonial Contexts of the German Lost Art Foundation presents its activities and funding opportunities on August 15, 2024.
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Oil painting
Landesmuseum Mainz, GDKE, photo: U. Rudischer

Restitution to the Kahn family

Oil painting from Mainz State Museum to be handed over on 11 July.
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People in front of a showcase with open books
Ministry of Interior Rhineland-Palatinate

Restitution to descendants of Siegmund Levi

Mainz State Museum and the municipal authorities of Mainz have returned two works that were confiscated under National Socialism.
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Blog Posts

Married couple on a historical foto
Stadtarchiv München, DE-1992-NL-ROS-0472-25

Memory as a mission

Julia Rosenthal talks about the reconstruction of the art collection that belonged to her family, who were victims of persecution under National Socialism
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Book cover
Gesellschaft für Frankfurter Geschichte, layout: Michael Drossmann

“Going once, going twice, sold!”

Publication and symposium on the Rudolf Bangel auction house in Frankfurt
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Romane zum NS-Kunstraub liegen auf einem Tisch
Susanne Meyer-Abich

Provenance research at the poolside

Uwe Fleckner’s first novel (and the Nazi-looted art thriller as a literary genre)
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Publications

Cover "Provenire": special volume
German Lost Art Foundation
Provenire series (special volume): Kunstraub für den Sozialismus
How should public institutions deal with cultural property that was confiscated in the SBZ and the GDR? As part of its series Provenire, the German Lost Art Foundation has published a legal opinion on the assessment of cultural property confiscation in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR.
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Umschlag "Provenienz & Forschung"
Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste
The Periodical “Provenienz & Forschung” (2023)
This issue of the Periodical „Provenienz & Forschung" deals with the topic „Fotografien". (in German)
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Working Paper 6/2024
German Lost Art Foundation
Working Paper 6/2024
In issue 6/2024 of the series "Working Paper Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste", Larissa Förster and Gesa Grimme focus on Namibian Cultural Heritage in Museums and Universities in German-Speaking Countries.
To the series