Systematic investigation of the painting and sculpture collection to identify cultural goods confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution—provenance research at the Jewish Museum Berlin

The project focused on the approx. 100 paintings and sculptures in the Jewish Museum Berlin’s art collection which have gaps in their provenance between 1933 and 1945. A systematic investigation of evidence was carried out for these objects to determine whether they may have been confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution.

The project aimed to identify masterpieces that were confiscated in persecution-related circumstances and to close as many gaps in provenance as possible. In addition, it aimed to consolidate the body of research for the provenances of the objects investigated and reconstruct the biographies of former owners.

For 14 objects in particular, questionable acquisition circumstances and suspicions of possible unlawful changes of ownership were already known about right at the beginning of the project. These were researched

as comprehensively as possible.

For a second, larger group of over 80 objects, no details of provenance were known beyond the immediate previous owner. Standardized, systematic examinations were conducted for these objects in order to determine research approaches or possible suspicious factors.

The provenance research project and initial findings were publicized in a number of ways, including on the website of the Jewish Museum Berlin (https://www.jmberlin.de/woher-stammen-unsere-kunstobjekte). A report on the ongoing project was published in German and English in the Jewish Museum Berlin’s periodical (JMB Journal + Inside JMB, No. 13, 2015, pages 32–33). In January 2016, the project researcher also organized an information and education workshop for volunteers which focused on provenance research in Germany and on the research project. One of the outcomes of the research was the restitution of a painting from the former art collection of the Berlin publisher Rudolf Mosse. Articles about this have been published on the JMB blog (http://www.jmberlin.de/blog/2017/01/restitution-gastmahl-mosse/) and in the JMB Journal (No. 16, 2017, pages 40–41). The restitution was also accompanied by press releases and was mentioned in a wide range of media reports.

There are plans to make the research findings from the project publicly available in their entirety. Selected objects are going to be presented on the

museum’s website. The results of the systematic investigation will also form part of the online presentation of the collection and will be taken into account in the redesign of the permanent exhibition.

Where the research proves that objects were confiscated as a result of persecution, or reinforced the suspicion of an unlawful change in ownership, these objects are (or have been) published in the Lost Art Database maintained by the German Lost Art Foundation in Magdeburg.

(c) Jüdisches Museum Berlin