Nazi looted art in the Görlitz collections

As part of the Görlitz Collections (Görlitzer Sammlungen), the Görlitz Museum of Cultural History is a museum institution under the municipal administration of the city of Görlitz. Its origins lie in the “Städtisches Museum für Kunst und Alterthum” (Municipal Museum of Art and Antiquity), founded in 1873, which was renamed the “Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum” in 1903 and the “Städtische Kunstsammlungen” (Municipal Art Collections) in 1936 (since 1998 “Kulturhistorisches Museum Görlitz”). During the National Socialist era, the museum was headed by the art historian Dr. Sigfried Asche. He was actively involved in the confiscation of Jewish private collections and their distribution to museums in Silesia.

Claims of ownership by descendants of Jewish private collectors, which were brought to the attention of the Görlitz Museum of Cultural History in the late 1990s and led to the first restitutions, heightened the awareness within the institution that the collection holdings had also been expanded during the National Socialist era by objects confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution. For years, however, the necessary personnel and time capacities were lacking for more in-depth research. Therefore, the goal of the research project was to determine the provenance of all new acquisitions from the years 1933 to 1945 on the basis of the completely preserved historical inventory documents and further archival research, and thus to clarify whether there were further objects in the collection that were undoubtedly Nazi-confiscated art and cultural property or justified suspicions. It was already clear at the start of the project that the extensive wartime losses of the museum, which resulted from the special historical situation of the division of the city of Görlitz in 1945, would also have to be taken into account.

(c) Görlitzer Sammlungen