State Portal
All Ministries

Provenance Research As The Basis For Restitution

Processing and restitution of Nazi-looted property

Baden-Württemberg acknowledges its historical responsibility and is working vigorously to track down Nazi-looted property in order to return it to the victims of persecution or their descendants.

Calculate reading time
ARTIS-Uli Deck// 13.04.2022 Badisches Landesmuseum und Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg, gemeinsamer Präsentationstermin & Pressegespräch zur Sammlung Dr. Ernst Gallinek.
CopyrightARTIS - Uli Deck

During the National Socialist era, cultural goods belonging to Jewish citizens were systematically confiscated. In many other cases, the owners were forced to sell their works of art - often for well below market value. Even today, such cultural goods are still kept in public collections.

The state of Baden-Württemberg seeks to implement the Washington Declaration on the Identification and Restitution of Nazi-looted property. Permanent positions for provenance research have been set up at several museums owned by the state. These experts proactively check the museum collections for possible Nazi-looted property and process restitution applications. If Nazi-looted property is identified, they attempt to clarify the origin and restitute the cultural goods. In some cases, it has been possible to buy the objects from the former rightful owners or their descendants. As a result, these works of art could remain in the respective state museum.

„We are continuing our systematic scientific research into the provenance of our museum and scientific collections and are disclosing this transparently. The focus here is on provenance research relating to Nazi-looted property and objects acquired in a colonial context of injustice. This may result in the return of relevant objects.“
Baden-Württemberg coalition agreement

Restitutions and repurchases that have already taken place

A large number of Nazi-looted cultural goods have already been returned by Baden-Württemberg, some of which have attracted national attention. The Gallinek Collection, for example, has been repurchased.

CopyrightARTIS - Uli Deck
CopyrightPETER GAUL
CopyrightARTIS - Uli Deck
CopyrightPETER GAUL
CopyrightARTIS - Uli Deck

Gallinek Collection

In 2020, the Gallinek Collection was restituted from the holdings of the Baden State Museum. The collection of the Jewish art collector Dr. Ernst Gallinek, who was born in Breslau in 1865 and died in Baden-Baden in 1940, consists of 466 historical porcelain objects, portrait miniatures and tapestries.

Already in 2008, the collection was identified as Nazi-looted property and entered into the "Lost Art" database. After clarification of the inheritance situation, Baden-Württemberg was able to buy the collection in 2021 with the support of the "Kulturstiftung der Länder".

Restitution of the painting "Siblings"

The painting "Siblings" (“Geschwister”) by Erich Heckel was still owned by the Jewish collector Max Fischer in 1934. It then returned to the property of the painter, Erich Heckel, in a way that is inexplicable today. Heckel gave the painting to the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe in 1967. Max Fischer was forced to emigrate to the USA in 1935 due to being persecuted by the Nazis.

Due to the provenance gap, which could not be closed despite intensive research, the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts and the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe decided in 2019, in agreement with Max Fischer's heirs, to appeal to the "Advisory Commission in connection with the restitution of cultural goods seized as a result of Nazi persecution, in particular from Jewish ownership" in this restitution matter. This commission recommended the restitution of the painting in 2021. Accordingly, the painting was restituted to Max Fischer's heirs.

Compensation payment for the painting "Horse Stable"

Das Gemälde Pferdestall von Franz Krüger
Copyright Kunsthalle Karlsruhe

The painting "Horse Stable" (“Pferdestall”) by Franz Krüger dates from the late 19th century. During the Nazi regime, the work of art had to be sold by its owners in order to pay the discriminatory tax levied on Jewish citizens. In 1972, the artwork came into the possession of the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.

Through extensive provenance research by the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe and the "Holocaust Claims Processing Office" (HCPO) in New York the provenance of the painting could be clarified and descendants could be found. Thanks to the initiative of the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts, a compensation payment equal to the amount of the current market value was agreed with the heirs of the Sommerguth family, who owned the painting up to 1939.

Provenance research in Baden-Württemberg

Clarifying the origin and history of a cultural good, the so-called provenance, is an important prerequisite for the restitution of Nazi-looted property. Provenance research is a complex, labor-intensive and long-term task. Nazi-related expropriations were not always documented, and many documents were lost or destroyed during the Second World War.

Permanent positions for provenance research have therefore been set up at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe, the Landesmuseum Württemberg and the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart. As a result of this research work, a large number of provenances have already been conclusively clarified and made the basis for appropriate restitution decisions.