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 takes its name from a Nazi financial authority: the OberFinanzPräsident(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 Berlin-Brandenburg (Senior Finance President(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, 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) was a regional financial authority responsible for the “Verwertung“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” (liquidation) of the assets of emigrated and deported victims of Nazi persecution from 1942 onwards. At the beginning of 1942, 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 established the Vermögensverwertungsstelle (Asset Realisation Office) as a special department for this purpose. It documented its work on a case-by-case basis in personal files, which are now preserved in the Brandenburg Main State Archive. Based on these files, 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 has been conducting systematic and digital provenance researchProvenance research (from Latin provenire: to come from) investigates the origin of objects, their changes of ownership, and the paths they have taken. on works of art looted during the Nazi era since 2020.
The full project title is:
Electronic evaluation of the personal files of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle of the Oberfinanzpräsident(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 of Berlin-Brandenburg (1933 to 1945) for the purpose of identifying art holdings and locating Nazi-looted art
Scientific indexing of a mass source to be digitised in the Brandenburg State Archives, Potsdam
Pilot project
Project aim
The aim is to find clues to the current locations of art objects looted by the Nazis. The research is intended to support the institutions that own the art – mostly museums and libraries, as well as other public institutions – in finding “fair and just solutions” in accordance with 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, together with the descendants of those who were persecuted and whose property was expropriated.
The researchers send the results of their research directly to the institutions that currently hold the collections. The focus is on public institutions that are obligated to find “just and fair solutions” for those persecuted or their descendants in accordance with 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 on Nazi-confiscated art.
In addition to immediately reporting the research results to public museums, libraries, etc., the researchers systematically record the data available in the sources on Nazi-looted art: details about the art objects themselves, information about their owners, and clues as to their whereabouts. The research data collected in this way will serve as a working basis and supplement for further provenance researchProvenance research (from Latin provenire: to come from) investigates the origin of objects, their changes of ownership, and the paths they have taken., which might be done from the perspective of a public institution, for instance.
What is special about this project?
Usually, provenance researchProvenance research (from Latin provenire: to come from) investigates the origin of objects, their changes of ownership, and the paths they have taken. on Nazi-looted art starts with a specific artwork and attempts to clarify its origin and ownership. 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, however, systematically evaluates the files created by the Nazi financial administration on the looting and “Verwertung“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” of the property of emigrants and deportees.
The historical files contain specific objects, references to their rightful owners, and references to the buyers or the whereabouts of the works. This information forms the basis for further targeted research and the reconstruction of the current location.
Project subject
The subject of the research is the documents in the Rep. 36A Oberfinanzpräsident(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 Berlin-Brandenburg (II) Vermögensverwertungsstelle collection, which is kept in the Brandenburg State Archives in Potsdam. These consist of around 42,000 personal files documenting the work of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle and thus the “liquidation” of the assets of persons persecuted as Jews or enemies of the Reich(enemies of the Reich/enemies of the people/enemies of the state) "Reichsfeind" was the National Socialist term for persons whose religion, origin, or political convictions did not conform to the regime’s guidelines. More.
To evaluate the files and identify clues as to the current locations of looted art and cultural assets, the documents were digitised and made searchable using optical character recognition (OCR). The project team developed a special evaluation tool that provenanceIn the context of art history: origin of art and cultural assets. More researchers use to search the files digitally. Prior to this, restorers examined, cleaned, and restored the approximately 2.7 million pages of files.
As part of the project, it was also possible to make most of the catalogued, restored, and digitised files accessible via the Brandenburg State Archives’ online search engine.
Funding
The German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) is funding the project from 2019 to 2026 with around 4.4 million euros. The state of Brandenburg supported the project in 2019 and 2020 with start-up funding totalling 100,000 euros.
To the project website.