Just and fair solutions…
… with the owners or their heirs is a core principle of the Washington PrinciplesThe Washington Principles of 1998 are international guidelines for dealing with Nazi-looted art and its fair restitution to its rightful owners. More of 1998. They remain the guiding framework for dealing with Nazi‑looted property in those states that signed them – including Germany.
These “just and fair solutions” also include the return of stolen objects to their rightful owners, so‑called restitutionReturn of confiscated property to its rightful owners or their heirs.. Provenance researchProvenance research (from Latin provenire: to come from) investigates the origin of objects, their changes of ownership, and the paths they have taken. in the OFP project supports this goal through its work with the files of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle (Asset Realisation Office). In doing so, it also makes National Socialist injustice evident.
If the files reveal that stolen objects such as paintings or books were acquired by a public institution, provenanceIn the context of art history: origin of art and cultural assets. More researchers inform that institution. It is then the responsibility of museums and other cultural institutions to identify the heirs of the persecuted individuals and to examine the possibility of restitutionReturn of confiscated property to its rightful owners or their heirs..
Through their research in the files of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle, the researchers thus provide collection‑holding institutions with a basis for working together with heirs to find “just and fair solutions”. How this might look in individual cases is shown by two procedures initiated by the OFP(Senior Finance President) Until 1937, Landesfinanzämter (regional finance offices). OFPs were the highest regional authorities responsible for the Reich’s financial administration. From the end of 1941, they were tasked with planning and carrying out the theft of property from deported Jews. More project:
It’s [the stillife by Kunz is] a living entity that survived the destruction of my family and I will hang it on my walls with considerable pride to serve in their memory.
Antony Easton, filmmaker and artist, descendant of Paul Jakob Eisner, 9 April 2024
After the Commission for Looted Art in EuropeAn international organisation founded in 1999 that campaigns for the return of cultural assets looted during the Nazi era. More had helped identify heirs, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem restitutedReturn of confiscated property to its rightful owners or their heirs. Ludwig Adam Kunz’s Großes Stilleben (Large Still Life) to the descendants in 2024.
The Berlinische Galerie has come to a "just and fair solution" with the descendants of Fritz Kurt Lomnitz.
The artwork will remain in Berlin.
Open ends and absences
Sometimes the search for cultural property whose theft is documented in the files of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle leads to a museum or another public institution.
Very often, however, the trail of the objects is lost after their last mention in valuation lists and auction records. Most cultural property stolen from persecuted individuals ended up in private ownership or the art trade and remains missing to this day.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that the Washington PrinciplesThe Washington Principles of 1998 are international guidelines for dealing with Nazi-looted art and its fair restitution to its rightful owners. More do not apply to private individuals, non‑public collections, or the art trade.
Finding “just and fair solutions” in these cases depends on the initiative and willingness of individual persons or organisations.
In general, the often very imprecise descriptions of the works in the files make it impossible to identify artworks to trace – and return – them.
What remains are open ends.
This is a well‑known problem in provenance researchProvenance research (from Latin provenire: to come from) investigates the origin of objects, their changes of ownership, and the paths they have taken. – as the cases presented in the exhibition also show.
What happened to the “Posten Bücher” (batch of books) and the “Blüthner‑Flügel” (Blüthner grand piano) from the property of Recha Storck which the bailiff Hoffmann recorded as part of her household inventory and which Walter Conrad, who had moved into Storck’s apartment with his family, did not purchase?
Is the painting by H. E. Pohle still in the possession of the family of SS‑Obersturmführer Johannes Schertl, who acquired it from the confiscatedBy confiscating assets, government officials initially deprived owners of the authority to dispose of their bank accounts, household furnishings, securities, etc., which were placed under state administration. More property of Hugo Loewy?
Beyond the gaps in object biographies, provenance researchProvenance research (from Latin provenire: to come from) investigates the origin of objects, their changes of ownership, and the paths they have taken. based on the files of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle also reveals other absences. Valuable art and cultural objects that the experts documented in greater detail – or even classified as museum objects – generally came from well‑to‑do households. Despite antisemitic tax and economic policies, their owners had managed to keep these items until then.
Thus, this field of research primarily deals with the biographies of persecuted individuals from more affluent social groups. The perspective on those who possessed little (or nothing) at the time of the asset seizure is missing. Yet even here, there was often a final book, table, or shirt that was “verwertet“Verwertung” (liquidation) refers to all measures taken by the Reich financial administration to transfer stolen assets to the state treasury and, if necessary, convert material goods into cash. More” (liquidated). Reconstructing the path of these object, however is almost impossible due to the scarcity of information.
These absences prompt critical reflection on memory, ownership, and the collective responsibility borne by the descendants of perpetrators and beneficiaries of National Socialist injustice.
Where does it come from?
Taking responsibility for the past through provenance research of your own
What we own often has a past. Sometimes we know it; sometimes it remains hidden. This guided exploration invites you to explore the first steps you can take when researching the history of your latest flea‑market find or a family heirloom.
The exploration begins with a simple question: Where does it come from?