2016 - News - Detail Page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

In his opening speech, Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, explains: "Since those dark days of National Socialist rule in our country, public museums, libraries and archives in Germany have borne a special responsibility to make amends for the inconceivable injustice that was inflicted on fellow citizens of the Jewish faith in particular. They fulfil this responsibility by restituting art and cultural assets that were seized from Jewish owners as a result of persecution. As the successor to the Prussian State Museums and the Prussian State Library, which were significantly supported by Jewish patrons in the course of their development, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation feels a special obligation to take the generosity it once received as an opportunity to make far-reaching decisions in dealing with restitution claims."

Since 1999, the Foundation has decided on restitution issues in 28 individual cases. In most cases, these decisions have been based on applications, but the institutions' own research has also repeatedly led to restitution. Works from the museums as well as holdings from the Berlin State Library were affected. In 22 cases, some of which involved extensive collections, a decision was made in favour of returning the objects in question. The Foundation has so far rejected restitution in 6 cases. Some of the restituted works nevertheless remained in the collections, as they were purchased after restitution or were able to remain there on permanent loan.

Detailed provenance research relating to individual cases forms the basis for implementing the Washington Principles and for negotiating fair and equitable solutions. A permanent full-time position has been established in the Central Archive of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin for the systematic cataloguing of all collection inventories and archival records of acquisitions from 1933 onwards and for the foundation's internal provenance research in order to clarify the origin of the works in its collections - especially those formerly owned by Jews. In addition, there are issues or groups of holdings for which systematic provenance research is carried out without being tied to an individual case. In the library section of the SPK, it is above all the active research of the State Library that has repeatedly led to restitutions in recent years. The project based there to clarify the effects of the "Reichstauschstelle" has uncovered numerous leads, which are being investigated intensively.

The basis for dealing with restitution issues at the SPK is a resolution passed by its Board of Trustees on 4 June 1999, which was formulated entirely in the spirit of the Washington Principles and the later published "Joint Declaration of the Federal Government, the Federal States and the Municipal Umbrella Associations". The Board of Trustees welcomed the President's efforts to help clarify the relevant facts and to make the documentation available to third parties. Furthermore, it authorised the President to seek amicable solutions and also accepts the publication of works of art, even if this is not a mandatory consequence of a legal regulation.

Background:

In December 1998, 44 states and 13 non-governmental organisations committed themselves to the "Principles of the Washington Conference With Respect to Nazi-Confiscated Art". In the declaration of the Federal Government, the federal states and the municipal umbrella organisations on the tracing and restitution of Nazi-confiscated cultural property, in particular Jewish property, those responsible in Germany committed themselves to implementing these principles. The issue of locating and returning Nazi-looted art continues to pose a challenge to the institutions concerned today.

The speakers at the symposium will address questions of balance and perspectives, the basic problems of restitution of cultural property, provenance research and investigation as well as the possibilities of "fair and just solutions". A panel discussion with representatives from culture, the judiciary, interest groups and organisers will conclude the event. The symposium is sponsored by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag.