Glossary

Explanations of terms from the field of provenance research and Proveana's four research contexts.

An overview page with all terms is also available.

A

ALIU

  • Cultural goods confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution
  • Cultural goods displaced as a result of war

American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas

The Roberts Commission, colloquially named after its chairman Owen J. Roberts, was established on 20 August 1943 and existed until 20 June 1946. It initiated measures for the protection of art, compiled information on the Nazi theft of cultural property and put forward principles governing the restitution of cultural property. (MO)

  • Cultural goods displaced as a result of war

Anonymous purchase

Attention, this is a problematic term from contemporary historical linguistic usage. The current use of this term is inappropriate or only common in the scientific context with appropriate labeling. Such terms can be discriminatory, euphemistic, ideologically tinged neologisms and/or ideologically motivated neologisms.

The term "anonymous purchase" was coined by those who participated in the so-called →"Hamburg South Seas Expedition" (Hamburger Südsee-Expedition). Many of the people living in the villages visited by the expedition, particularly those in the region then known as “New Britain”, tried to avoid encounters with the Germans, leaving their settlements and possessions unguarded. The members of the expedition then proceeded to take objects from their homes and villages, leaving behind what they saw as an appropriate payment. The term “purchase” coined by the members of the expedition is a blatant euphemism, as the villagers were not given the opportunity to accept or decline the sale or even determine the value of their own possessions. (SF)

  • Cultural goods and collections from colonial contexts

Art and Antiques Ltd.

Kunst und Antiquitäten GmbH (Art and Antiques Ltd., KuA) was a foreign trade company in the GDR specializing in the import and export of art and antiques (headquarters: Berlin, Französische Straße 15 | central depot: Mühlenbeck, Kastanienallee 19-20). KuA was founded in February 1973 and, on 10 December 1973, it was granted the exclusive right to import and export “antiques, fine and applied art, folk art and second-hand goods of a cultural nature”. As a result, antiques were no longer exported by the foreign trade company known as →Deutscher Buch-Export und Import GmbH (German Book Export and Import Ltd.). The company was instructed to transfer profits to the →Kommerzielle Koordinierung (Commercial Coordination Division, KoKo) of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) to generate a foreign exchange reserve for operational purposes. KuA obtained its merchandise from various sources: (1) from →Antikhandel Pirna (Pirna Antiques (Dealership)); (2) from →Staatlicher Kunsthandel der DDR (State Art Trade of the GDR, SKH); (3) from private art and antique dealers; (4) by taking over pawn shops; and (5) from other suppliers that came along in the years that followed such as the nationally owned firm (VEB) Antik- und Gebrauchtwaren Gera, the respective trading organizations (HO) of Rostock and Berlin – and even museums. KuA has also been found to have purchased items from museum depots; however, the museums would try to avoid selling their core exhibition holdings and instead fall back on objects from salvaged castles and palaces, the households formerly occupied by deserters of the republic or other bundles (transferred by the authorities following arbitrary confiscation measures). This led to an accumulation of confiscated private property from a number of contexts, which was housed at the largest KuA warehouse in →Mühlenbeck. It was not until 1986 that (6) Philatelie Wermsdorf (a publicly owned enterprise) also became an affiliated supplier of KuA. The relevant archival records on KuA can now be found in the Federal Archives in Berlin (BArch DL 210); some fragmented records are also housed at the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn (HdG 2013/04/0110.01 and 2013/04/0110.06 to 0110.11). (MD)

  • Confiscation of cultural goods in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR

Art Looting Investigation Unit

The Art Looting Investigation Unit (ALIU) was a special unit set up by the US government under the umbrella of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). It operated from London and issued reports on Nazi theft of cultural property between 1945 and 1946 – including a list of persons and entities involved, the so-called →Red Flag Names. The unit collaborated with the →Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section (MFA&A) and the →American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas. (MO)

  • Cultural goods confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution
  • Cultural goods displaced as a result of war

Aryanization

Attention, this is a problematic term from contemporary historical linguistic usage. The current use of this term is inappropriate or only common in the scientific context with appropriate labeling. Such terms can be discriminatory, euphemistic, ideologically tinged neologisms and/or ideologically motivated neologisms.

This term is used, in a general sense, to refer to the "forced expulsion of Jews from professional and economic life in Nazi Germany through anti-Semitic laws and the exclusion of Jews from associations, organizations, clubs […]" and, in a more specific sense, it is used to describe the "transfer of Jewish property" to "'Aryan' hands" (Cornelia Schmitz-Berning: Vokabular des Nationalsozialismus, 2010). From 1933 onwards, boycotts and acts of repression created financial difficulties for Jewish business owners, effectively forcing them to close their business. While company takeovers were initially supposed to be voluntary or unaffected by state control, the Nazi authorities increasingly tried to exert influence from the mid-1930s. This culminated in the "Aryanization Regulations" of 1938, which were preceded by "wild Aryanization" in Austria during the pogroms that had followed the "Anschluss" ("annexation") in spring 1938. The "Aryanization" campaign was conducted with varying degrees of severity – from unscrupulous to benevolent – which partly depended on the behavior of the "Aryan" buyers. In some cases, loyal employees tried to continue the business of their former Jewish owners, which the Nazi authorities sought to eradicate as "false Aryanization". With regard to the art market in Nazi Germany, the complexity of the processes is best exemplified by the Heinemann / Zinckgraf, Flechtheim / Vömel and Graupe / Lange gallery takeovers. (SL, UH)

  • Cultural goods confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution

Askari

The European colonial masters depended on local support to assert their claim to power. African men were integrated into the colonial administration as soldiers or police officers. They were both respected officials and feared agents of violence. While their position signaled social advancement, it also symbolized colonial power. In 1884, the German Reich also started to recruit paid colonial soldiers from the east coast of East Africa, from Sudan and Egypt, and integrated them in the regular →"Protection Force" (Schutztruppe). Many askaris bore the brunt of the conflict between the European powers during the First World War. They were relatively well paid and received a lifelong pension that was actually adopted and paid out by the Federal Republic of Germany. As they were usually stationed in regions far away from their actual homelands and were therefore less affected by conflicting loyalties, they were also seen as dependable soldiers. However, this has given rise to the myth of the “loyal askari”, which has been exploited and exaggerated to suit the agenda of → colonial revisionists (Kolonialrevisionisten) and symbolically refer to the supposedly humane conditions prevailing in the German colonies. (SF)

  • Cultural goods and collections from colonial contexts

Associations GDR

Between 1949 and 1952, in the first years after the GDR had been founded as a state, there were only a few options for civic associations that had existed before 1945: Most fatherland, local heritage, genealogy, history and museum associations were expropriated and liquidated in 1948 on the grounds that they were militaristic, reactionary or former Nazi associations (for the State of Saxony, for example, this decree was issued by the state government on 14 September 1948). As a result, their articles of association were no longer in force and their assets were mostly handed over to the local museum (i.e. in the local town, city or district).

Any unsuspicious associations that were not dissolved and expropriated were only able to continue their work within the →Kulturbund zur demokratischen Erneuerung Deutschlands (Cultural Association for the Democratic Renewal of Germany) – with ties to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The remaining associations were similarly forced to dissolve with flimsy justifications, such as a lack of legal status because all documents (e.g. lists of members) had been confiscated by the →Volkspolizei (People’s Police) for examination, which made it impossible for the board and editors to prove the number of members.

When these associations were dissolved, their collections of objects, archive materials and books were mostly transferred to the local museums; however, the board and directors were sometimes able to entrust such items to friends and acquaintances, who often had to hand them over to museum collections some years later anyway. Our knowledge is currently limited to individual cases (e.g. Dresden, Köthen, Loschwitz, Leipzig, Potsdam, Salzwedel, Zeitz). The records of the dissolved associations can be found in the relevant city and district archives. (MD)

  • Confiscation of cultural goods in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR

Autopsy

In the context of provenance research, the inspection of objects in search of →provenance marks is referred to as an “autopsy”: Books are autopsied to identify →Ex libris, dedications, stamps, stickers and other characteristics that allow conclusions to be drawn about their origin. The backs of paintings are examined to analyze gallery labels, reference numbers, collectors’ stamps and other aspects. In an ideal scenario, provenance markings provide information about previous owners and document the path taken by an item. This makes autopsies an important aspect of item-based provenance research. An autopsy is not always useful in the case of graphics and three-dimensional objects, however, because provenance markings are not as common for non-unique or low-value items; source-based provenance research makes more sense in such cases. (SL)

  • Cultural goods confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution
  • Cultural goods displaced as a result of war
  • Confiscation of cultural goods in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR
  • Cultural goods and collections from colonial contexts