An investigation of the holdings of Müllrose local history museum with regard to the acquisition of cultural goods confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution

Initial questions and project objectives

At the heart of the project was the systematic investigation of the holdings of Müllrose local history museum with regard to cultural goods confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution. Such property belonging to Wilhelm Friedrich Graf zu Lynar had been identified in an Initial Check instigated by Brandenburg Association of Museums in 2012/2013. This was subsequently examined in a short-term project funded by the Bureau for Provenance Research (70 books and 19 maps/etchings from the “Gräflich zu Lynarschen Fideikommiß” library).

The project (April 2014 to April 2015) was therefore designed to reconstruct the acquisitions of objects during the Nazi era from museums and newly opened up sources, as well as examining the acquisition circumstances. In addition to this, the aim was to investigate victims of Nazi persecution, particularly Jewish women and men from Müllrose and carry out two inventory checks. As the examination of the art and book holdings progressed, it turned out to be more complex than initially thought. The decision was therefore taken to continue and conclude the project in a second year (January 2016 to January 2017). The examination was expanded to include pewter objects which had entered the collection in the 1930s via a junk/antiques dealer.

The provenance investigation aimed to determine whether or not Müllrose local history museum contains more objects confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution, and whether there are intermediate levels according to the color scale developed by the German Lost Art Foundation.

The project in numbers

Between 1933 and 1945, at least 495 objects, four rock collections, one shell collection and an unknown number of prehistoric objects entered what was then the Müllrose local history collection. By the end of the war, many of these items had been lost as a result of destruction and theft; there are at least 200 in the present-day museum holdings.

As sources of provenance for these museum receipts, research was conducted on 123 individuals, 1 junk/antiques dealer, 3 associations, 1 guild, 1 company and 1 journal. There is a lack of provenance information for certain objects, most of which no longer exist.

Additions and refinements were made to the data collection on women and men from Müllrose who, as Jews, were discriminated against, persecuted and murdered, or committed suicide, during the Nazi era. A Roma man from Müllrose was also killed. There is also biographical information on 13 young people sent to the Jewish forced labor camp in the Kaisermühl forest and on seven further victims and people persecuted by the Nazis.

In the 2nd project year, the examination of provenance was concluded for three inventories. After the investigation of 2,069 objects in total, most of which entered the Müllrose museum holdings after 1945, the following result is produced in accordance with the color scale developed by the German Lost Art Foundation:

In numbers

 NumberOf which redOf which orangeOf which yellowOf which green

Art inventory127006859

Pewter inventory5200520

Book inventory1,89041121,873

Total2,069411321,932

Four books that were the property of the Lynar family are clearly of suspicious provenance. The book categorized as orange may also have the same origin. The assessment of the provenance of art and pewter objects and of books as not entirely clear for the period 1933–1945 (yellow) is mainly a result of the sources, as there is a lack of information on origins or prior provenance. Based on the latest state of research and knowledge, confiscation as a result of Nazi persecution can be ruled out for over 93 percent of the objects examined.

(c) Heimatmuseum Müllrose