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New publication: Looting and Rescue - Russian Museums in the Second World War
Press release from 11/07/2019
For the first time, Russian and German researchers have jointly analysed the wartime losses of Russian museums during the Second World War. The results are summarised in the recently published book "Raub und Rettung. Russian Museums in the Second World War", which uses detailed case studies to shed light on the theft of art by National Socialist Germany. The book is the first volume of "Studies on cultural assets displaced as a result of the war". It is published by the Kulturstiftung der Länder and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz.
Prof. Dr Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and spokesperson for the German-Russian Museum Dialogue, commented: "The Soviet Union suffered immense cultural losses as a result of the terrible German war of extermination. To this day, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are missing hundreds of thousands of artefacts, and many questions remain unanswered. We must never forget this in our cooperation with these countries. But it is precisely this difficult history that obliges us to find ways into the future together with our Russian colleagues and to cooperate in a spirit of trust. The German-Russian Museum Dialogue projects and the exhibitions organised by the SPK on the Merovingian period and the Bronze Age bear witness to this."
The project "Russian Museums in the Second World War" was initiated by the German-Russian Museum Dialogue. Between 2012 and 2014, it was funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States. Prof. Dr Markus Hilgert, Secretary General of the Cultural Foundation of the Federal States, commented: "In the 15-year history of the German-Russian Museum Dialogue, German and Russian museums have conducted joint research and exhibited in many different projects. Through the large number of collaborations, we not only learn about each other, but also about shared culture and cultural history. This is why cross-border dialogue is so important, especially in times when fear of the supposedly foreign is booming."
Dr Britta Kaiser-Schuster, Director of the German-Russian Museum Dialogue: "There was close cooperation with the museums studied as part of a large-scale research project. The work on this first volume of 'Studies on Cultural Assets Relocated as a Result of the War' was characterised by mutual trust, unhindered access to the depots and archives and transparency. Only in this way can the work on the shared history of the lost collections succeed."
The book "Theft and Rescue" focuses on the four tsarist palaces near St. Petersburg and the cities of Pskov and Novgorod. The story of their loss vividly documents the suffering of Russian and European culture during the war. Newly discovered sources in Germany and Russia expand the historical knowledge and for the first time also place the people involved - Russian museum employees on the one hand, German art historians in the service of the Wehrmacht on the other - at the centre of attention.
The publication, published by Böhlau-Verlag, was presented today at a press conference in Berlin with the authors Dr Corinna Kuhr-Korolev, Dr Ulrike Schmiegelt-Rietig and Prof. Dr Wolfgang Eichwede.
The German-Russian Museum Dialogue was founded in 2005 by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the Cultural Foundation of the Federal States and over 80 German museums. It strengthens the exchange between German and Russian museum colleagues and contributes to the clarification of cultural artefacts displaced as a result of the war.
