Investigating the collections relating Nazi-looted property
The project to research the collections with regard to cultural property seized under Nazi persecution was initiated in response to an application for restitution submitted by Emma Budge’s legal representatives in 2014. The objects in question were two drinking vessels in the shape of a ship (inv. no. 1937.8193), a rooster and a hen (inv. no. 1980.9092 A and B). These were restituted in 2015 and, in the case of the drinking ship, reacquired by the Museum Ulm.
In February 2017, the Museum Ulm began systematically reviewing the acquisitions made between 1933 and 1945. In addition, purchases made after 1945 were researched when there was concrete suspicion. The research was primarily based on internal source material, consisting of correspondence between the museums’ administration and potential customers or authorities, the inventory books and the object register. Furthermore, external archives and libraries were consulted.
The correspondence dates back to the middle of the 19th century and thus to the time of the predecessor institution, the Gewerbemuseum Ulm. As part of the provenance research, an overview of the remaining correspondence files and inventory books was obtained. The inventory books for old and new prints and the inventory book for paintings were transferred in full to an Excel spreadsheet and thus made accessible for searching:
Inventory books for paintings and prints
Correspondence folders and inventory books
Note: The descriptions of the objects are transcriptions. Errors and politically incorrect designations have been adopted unchanged, but do not reflect the position of the museum.
Over the course of the project, suspicious cases were filed on lost art (Lost Art IDs: 569297, 569686, 573967, 574885, 581191) and cultural property evidently confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution was restituted to the rightful heirs. The project ended(ed) in February 2024. A follow-up project, which in particular also involves the digitization and evaluation of the historical directorate files, is being sought.
The provenance research at the Museum Ulm was funded by the German Lost Art Foundation:
Further information can also be found at www.kulturgutverluste.de/en and www.lostart.de/en.
