Around 2.33 million euros for research on “colonial contexts”

In 2024, funding was approved for 17 provenance research projects in the field of ​​“colonial contexts”.
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Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste | Foto: Stefan Deutsch
Show and convey
Provenance research made clear: We offer an overview of all exhibitions on the topic that have come to our attention in recent years.
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Günzel/Rademacher, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt/Main
New publication
"Provenire", volume 4, adresses the long debate about the return of cultural property and ancestral remains to former colonial territories.
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German Lost Art Foundation | photo: Stefan Deutsch
News from research
How was the foundation's annual conference in Leipzig? You can find a detailed report and other new contributions from the field of provenance research on our blog.
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Nora M. Kißling, Berlin

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 577 Projects
Germany
577 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 107 454 13
Archive 0 8 0
Library 7 17 1
Institute 5 21 1
Cooperations between public and private institutions 1 3 0
Cooperations between individuals and public institutions 7 14 0
Museum 43 251 6
Privately owned institutions 3 13 0
Private person 7 6 0
University 18 46 3
Public administration 16 75 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

Ausschnitt eines Buchcovers
Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste

New release: “Resist, Reclaim, Retrieve”

The German Lost Art Foundation has published volume 4 of the "Provenire" series.
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Fallback image
German Lost Art Foundation

New recommendation issued by the Advisory Commission on Nazi-Looted Cultural Property

Recommendation of the Advisory Commission in the case of the heirs of George Grosz v. Freie Hansestadt Bremen.
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handover ceremony
Sammlung Kulturen der Welt | photo: Michael Haydn

Lübeck museums hand over mortal remains of a man from the indigenous Selk’nam community

Delegation from Tierra del Fuego buries ancestors at a cemetery in Lübeck after the handover ceremony.
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Blog Posts

walls in an exhibition
Klaus Pichler

„Theft“

An unusual double exhibition is currently on at the Jewish Museum Vienna and the Vienna Museum.
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Exhibition room
Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz | photo: Violetta Wakolbinger

Answer to 'The Monuments Men'

The exhibition The Journey of the Paintings at Lentos Art Museum Linz provides a clear and precise account of Hitler’s Sonderauftrag Linz and the consequences of Nazi art theft in the Salzkammergut region.
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Lecture hall with audience
German Lost Art Foundation | photo: Lena Grundhuber

Aid or cultural asset in its own right?

Conference report on the 2024 annual conference of the German Lost Art Foundation: Provenance Research and Photography, 18/19 April in Leipzig
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Publications

Ausschnitt eines Buchcovers
Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste
"Provenire" series: Volume 4 – Resist, Reclaim, Retrieve
The debate on how to engage with collections from colonial contexts may seem new, but individuals, groups, and states have protested the removal and theft of cultural property and ancestral remains since the dawn of colonial expansion.
To the series
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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Cover Working Paper 8-2024
Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste
Working Paper 8/2024
In issue 8/2024 of the Working Paper series, Michael Busch addresses the topic of the GDR's state art trade using the files of the Arbeiter-und-Bauern-Inspektion.
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