transfer – Zeitschrift für Provenienzforschung und Sammlungsgeschichte | Journal for Provenance Research and the History of Collection

Jacques Schuhmacher: Nazi-Era Provenance of Museum Collections. A Research Guide

Fenya Almstadt, Alice Cazzola — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Editorial 4/2025

Florian Schönfuß, Felicity Bodenstein, Ulrike Saß, Christoph Zuschlag — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Auflösung und Verbleib von Schulbibliotheken in der DDR

Annett Büttner — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The article focusses on the GDR administration’s proceedings regarding the dissolution of historical libraries, using the specific example of a school library. The displacement of the old societal elites was followed by the removal of relics of the past they had been connected with. Only after a certain delay, the GDR authorities and public corporations realized that they could make capital out of these unloved and seemingly useless remainders. Starting in 1959, the GDR’s central antiquarian bookstore was tasked with the commercial exploitation of the books, which explicitly included their sale to the so-called ‘non-Socialist economic area’. By this means, many books also went into West German libraries. GDR provenances as a research topic therefore not only relate to East Germany but to the Federal Republic of Germany as a whole. In many places and institutions in East Germany, the fate of their former libraries today is hardly known. The loss of historical and regional identity is clearly noticeable. Besides shedding light onto historical developments, the article suggests a renewed discussion of the dissolution of historical libraries and an assessment from today’s perspective. In those cases where the institutions responsible for the libraries themselves requested the latter’s dissolution, in part even actively participating in their destruction, one can hardly speak of sequestration or a context of deprivation. Even provenance researchers largely consider these as purely administrative acts, and thus as not being litigable. From a mere legal perspective this is applicable. However, the associated immense material and ideational losses deserve a different categorization and evaluation.

The Art Dealership of Saeed Motamed

Lara Deniz Ersoy — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The authenticity of the objects provided by the Iranian art dealer Saeed Motamed to Weltmuseum Vienna and other European museums will be analyzed in this paper. Upon initial analysis it is suspected that the objects mentioned are either not original and/or have been tampered with. Some of these ceramic objects appear twice in different dimensions, while some others seem to have been inspired by the latest excavations from Iran. Some objects with similar dimensions, depictions and supposed date of origin seem to appear in many museums over and over again. This paper will examine these cases and will try to find answers as to whether these objects were authentic, misdated or reworked to appear older and/or more interesting.

Not a Toothless Law

Paul P. Stewens — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

On 27 January 2025, French customs seized nine fossilized teeth from Morocco in transit to Italy. This case study discusses the legal framework for the seizure and evaluates it in light of European Council Regulation 2019/880 and French domestic law. Moreover, it problematizes the determination of the fossils’ origin and the blurred distinction between paleontology and archaeology and examines their implications for the regulation of the illicit fossil trade. Despite their structural similarities with undocumented antiquities, fossils are not covered by the licensing scheme under Article 4. Regulation 2019/880 still allows EU Member States to enforce Morocco’s export restrictions but seizures such as this one might require fossil market actors to change established practices.

Eingedenken

Gabriela Brudzyńska-Němec — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

With the occupation of Poland by German troops in the fall of 1939, Nazi German authorities began to seize Polish cultural assets on a large scale, with academic institutions participating in this process. In this context, the article at hand focuses on the confiscation of Polish forestry science collections in 1939/40. The focus lies on the holdings of the Warsaw Szkoła Główna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego (SGGW), the General Directorate of State Forests, and the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Poznań. With the cooperation of German forestry colleges – in particular those in Tharandt and Eberswalde – these holdings were systematically cataloged and transferred to Germany. Based on previously little-known files from the Tharandt University of Forestry, the case study reconstructs the sequence of events, the actors, and the ideological background of these measures. Particular emphasis is placed on the roles of Professor Kurt Mantel and his colleague Heinz Hoinkes, who were involved in the cataloging and relocation of Polish holdings in Warsaw on behalf of the German authorities. At the same time, contemporary Polish reports documenting the extent of looting and destruction are consulted. After the end of WWII, a systematic return of the stolen objects began in Tharandt, which was largely completed by the early 1950s. Nevertheless, provenance research has revealed that the holdings of the SLUB Dresden still contain volumes that arrived from Poland in 1940. Both concretely and symbolically, these volumes stand for the long-suppressed history of the systematic takeover of scientific and technical equipment. In the spirit of Walter Benjamin, this text is intended as a memorial that reveals the hidden traces of history and gives voice to the forgotten.

Exhuming Inventory

Constance Jame — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Based on provenance research at the Musée des Beaux-Arts and the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain in Strasbourg and supported by the French Minister of Culture, this article looks at the different contexts in which artworks were acquired between 1940 and 1945. Whereas Tessa Rosebrock’s research in 2004 focused on the acquisitions made by the Generaldirektion der Oberrheinischen Museen between 1940 and 1944, this new research complements Rosebrock’s findings and uncovers two major sources of enrichment for the collections during this period. On the one hand, alongside official acquisitions made by the Generaldirektion, the museums were entrusted with the management of artworks from the sequestration of the property of “enemies of the people and the Reich”. Despite some restitutions being conducted immediately after the war, several artworks with an encumbered provenance remained in the collections. Moreover, in the post-war imbroglios, artworks from the Neue Reichskanzlei in Berlin, found in a castle in Germany in 1945 by a French Army Captain, were deposited in Strasbourg. Their provenance had been forgotten until today. This article focuses on these two contexts and explains the research methodology employed. Methodologically, this discovery is the result of an interest in works whose provenance remained unknown and which were inventoried retroactively during the mid-2000s. By comparing the inventories with registers in French and German archives, it has been possible to determine the provenance of these artworks. In addition, the article demonstrates the importance of considering the paintings in their materiality as a historical source.

Sichtbar machen, was war – und was bleibt

Michael La Corte , Annika Vosseler — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The engagement with objects from the Palau Islands in the Ethnological Collection of the University of Tübingen exemplifies how colonial holdings can be recontextualized, researched, and made digitally accessible in the 21st century. This article focuses on the role of artist and researcher Elisabeth Krämer-Bannow during the Hamburg South Seas “Expedition” (1908-1910), the colonial acquisition contexts of the objects, and their current classification as ‘difficult heritage’ in the museum. An interdisciplinary student research project reconstructed object biographies and critically reflected on the possibilities and limitations of equitable cooperation with partners in Palau. The resulting digital exhibition Colonial Shadows links colonial collection histories with questions of global accessibility and digital participation. The article makes a case for open, critical, and cooperative approaches to decolonising university collections.

Mapping the Object

Felicity Jensz, Ute Christina Koch — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Over the last decades, museums in large cities and in places known for their colonial entanglements such as Berlin, Bremen, Cologne and Hamburg have often been the focus of studies to determine what non-European objects are in their collections. Smaller museums and museums in places far from these larger centers remain on the margins of research. This is partly because small museums often have limited budgets and not the personnel to undertake the time-consuming task of examining records and checking deposits for non-European objects. With our project Mapping the Object we wished to gain an overview of the number and diversity of non-European objects in Westphalian-Lippe museums. The project contributed to the important task of creating an overview of objects with colonial contexts in small museums by (1) examining and reviewing the collections both through the creation and cleaning of databases and through the physical viewing of objects in a number of collections (2) supporting museums in making their collections broadly accessible through the museum:digital online database and (3) presenting our results as part of an educational program. Through our research we were able to identify some 1.700 non-European objects in 44 museums in Westphalia-Lippe. Of these objects, under 10% are likely to have a connection to the German colonies. This result suggests that colonial objects were also collected in small museums, although not systematically. In this article we explain the context of the study, our working steps and what requirements are needed for this project to be expanded. Our study provides a first quantitative overview of the number of non-European objects in small museums and underscores the further need for qualitative analysis to be undertaken to determine more exact origins of these objects.

Returning to Samoa – The Appropriation and Restitution of a Samoan Prow

Brian Alofaituli, Dionne Fonoti, Bettina von Briskorn — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

In 1932, the Übersee-Museum Bremen received a collection of cultural artefacts as a gift from Admiral Wilhelm Souchon (1864-1946). Among these artefacts was a prow dating back to the time of the Samoan Civil War of 1888 and the conflict between the imperial powers of the USA, Great Britain and the German Empire for supremacy over Samoa. Souchon acquired the prow as a naval officer on the SMS Adler in 1888. The article follows the traces of this prow. It outlines its journey from Samoa to Germany and its restitution in 2024, drawing on historical sources that shed light on both the German and Samoan perspectives on the events.

Ludwig Bretschneider (1909-1988)

Nils Fiebig — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

On February 11, 1988, the art dealer Ludwig Bretschneider passed away. The Weltkunst dedicated an obituary to him, which emphasized on his success in trading non-European art and his commitment to the Munich art and antiques fair but asked no critical questions about his life or from which networks he benefited. In 1932, Bretschneider smuggled the eucharistic dove and other art treasures from Salzburg Cathedral across the border to Germany and sold them illegally. His conviction led to headlines in the press. During the National Socialist era, Bretschneider worked with the art dealer Maria Dietrich (1892-1971), who sold art to the “Sonderauftrag Linz”. Bretschneider acquired paintings and antiques from Jewish owners. In his dealings with representatives of the Nazi regime such as Martin Bormann (1900-1945), he achieved sales figures that far exceeded his previous business volume. Despite his closeness to the Nazi regime, Bretschneider portrayed himself as an opponent of the regime in his denazification hearings. After the war, Bretschneider made a name for himself as a dealer in “exotic art”. In his dealings with ethnological museums, Bretschneider profited from the colonial power imbalance of the imperial era. He offered his goods to museums in exchange for items that had entered the museum collections because of colonial injustice. In individual cases, the authenticity of his goods was called into question. This article examines for the first time the life of Ludwig Bretschneider, who was characterized as a Nazi sympathizer by an auction house in 2023.

Between Attribution and Misattribution

Cecilia Benavente Vicente — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The article examines the provenance history of two ancient objects: a Roman head in the Getty Museum (Inv.-No. 79.AA.135) and a counterweight in the Musée du Louvre (Inv.-No. E 25286). Both objects are linked to the collection of the French physician and antiquities collector Daniel Marie Fouquet (1850-1914). This research highlights the importance of a critical re-evaluation of existing documentation, particularly in relation to previous attributions and exclusions from the Fouquet collection. It also addresses a significant misunderstanding surrounding the 1922 auction of the collection, showing that several individuals involved have been misidentified in earlier research. These inaccuracies have contributed to confusion in reconstructing the collection’s history and dispersion. More broadly, the case demonstrates ongoing challenges in researching Fouquet’s collection and his historical network and provides a foundation for future research on Fouquet’s role as a collector and the relevance of provenance research today.

Die deutsche Kunstpolitik in den besetzten Niederlanden und die Städtische Galerie Stuttgart 1942

Kai Artinger — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

This year, Städtische Galerie Stuttgart, today Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, celebrates its centennial anniversary. In its collection there are still art works with an unknown history, which therefore will be investigated in more detail as part of the museum history. A particular example for this is the Still Life by the Dutch painter Digna Roovers-Verploegh (1885-1965), which was acquired during the time of National Socialism and the history of which had been unknown until recently. On the one hand, the painting is only one of many still lifes which were collected in the course of the museum’s history. This also includes the time of National Socialism. On the other hand, the painting constitutes a testimony and remnant of the art, cultural and exhibition policy conducted by the “Reichskommissar” for the German-occupied Netherlands, which to this day is little known in Germany. The painting had been sent to Stuttgart in the context of Nazi art propaganda. In October 1942, it was employed by the Nazis together with other exhibits of the special exhibition Niederländische Kunst der Gegenwart (Dutch Contemporary Art) at the Stuttgart museum “Ehrenmal der Deutschen Leistung im Ausland” (Memorial of German Achievement Abroad) to represent a Dutch art which allegedly was unaffected by modern or other tendencies dissenting from Nazi art doctrine and seemingly rooting in an unbroken Dutch tradition. The article retraces a specific aspect of the cultural relations between the German-occupied Netherlands and Nazi Germany. Using the examples of the exhibition Niederländische Kunst der Gegenwart and the painting Still Life by Roovers-Verploegh, it tries to answer the question why Stuttgart was chosen to become the venue of a ‘Dutch’ exhibition organized by the “Reichskommissar” for the German-occupied Netherlands.

The Lost Art Collection of Gaston Lévy (1893-1977)

Harry Spillane, Peter Elliott — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The art collection of Gaston Lévy (1893-1977) was of international significance and contained many works by renowned artists, with a focus on Paul Signac. Although works were sold or transferred throughout the 1930s, Lévy deposited a sizeable collection in 1940 at his Château des Bouffards in Sologne. This was an unsuccessful attempt to protect his collection from looting by the German occupiers. Lévy returned after the war to find his cultural goods had been taken. Yet, it was not until 1962 that Lévy initiated a compensation claim, and then only through the German system rather than the French process. This study explores the lost art collection of Lévy and traces works listed on his inventory of looted goods to modern collections, taking note of the recent restitutions to Lévy’s heirs. However, it also establishes that the list of works Lévy claimed to have been looted in June 1940 contains paintings which he did not own at that time or which did not exist. For this reason, it is contended here that the inventory must be treated with caution. Throughout, Lévy’s varied career, his business practices, and involvement in a series of criminal enterprises are used to contextualize the inadequacies and falsities of the sworn inventory that Lévy submitted to the West German authorities in 1962. For the first time, an exploration of Lévy’s life and compensation claim are carried out in tandem and the romantic narratives of Lévy’s life, woven by auction houses in recent years, are subjected to proper investigation.

Verschollen in London

Daniela Mathuber — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

In 1945, the libraries of Publication Office Vienna and other institutions within Reich Security Main Office of the SS (RSHA) that were conducting research on Eastern Europe were confiscated and stored at the former Benedictine Abbey of St. Lambrecht, Styria. These libraries are said to be lost since their transport to London in 1946. In this paper, a list comprising 2.833 volumes from St. Lambrecht is analyzed. It is shown that these media most probably belonged to the library of Publication Office Vienna and that most of the looted media among them were seized by Special Command Künsberg in the Soviet Union. Finally, the approximate number of looted media in the list will be calculated.

Tracing the Provenance of the Lamentation over the Dead Christ by Peter Paul Rubens at the Galleria Borghese

Flavia De Nicola — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

A series of previously overlooked, interrelated documents discovered in the Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, along with manuscripts in the Archivio Storico dell’Accademia di San Luca and the Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte in Palazzo Venezia, have now made clear the provenance of the Lamentation over the Dead Christ, which is housed at the Galleria Borghese and currently attributed to Peter Paul Rubens (Inv.-No. 411). While critics have long questioned the painting’s origins and the circumstances of its entry into the Borghese collection, a full-text analysis of these sources traces its more likely provenance from the Palazzo Altieri al Gesù in Rome through successive sales from Giovanni Gherardo De Rossi to Pietro Camuccini, and then to Prince Camillo II Borghese on 1 April 1826. This proposal of a reconstructed provenance path demonstrates how provenance data can provide a verifiable methodological foundation of the historical and critical interpretation of artworks. In this study, the findings offer a basis for evaluating the context of the painting’s patronage, which is possibly linked to the Altieri family history, and provide further material for discussion in the longstanding debate on its attribution.

Myths of the Excavator-Supplier

Daniel Potter — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The 1882 British military occupation of Egypt accelerated an antiquities rush in the Nile Valley, driven by the collecting desires of individuals, states and museums in the Global North. In the United Kingdom, much of this supply came through licensed excavations operating under the division of finds/partage system, which allowed archaeologists to export a share of their finds. Excavator-suppliers also purchased freely on the antiquities market to supplement their excavated finds. Work in the source country was funded by destination country donors, either through archaeological funds such as the Egypt Exploration Fund, via excavation committees, or by direct patronage. These relationships created a business cycle that required exported antiquities to be distributed to financial backers to secure ongoing support. Drawing on archival records, this article examines select transactions to consider the role of excavator-suppliers in British-led archaeology and their proximity to modern definitions of ‘dealing’. It identifies three socio-functional myths used by excavator-suppliers to justify their actions, expenditures, and transactions in relation to the financial value of archaeological objects and labor.

Interview with Frédérique Dreifuss-Netter, President of the Commission pour la restitution des biens et l’indemnisation des victimes de spoliations antisémites in France

Florian Schönfuß, Frédérique Dreifuss-Netter — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Interview mit Miriam Olivia Merz, Provenienzforscherin bei der Zentralen Stelle für Provenienzforschung Hessen

Florian Schönfuß, Miriam Olivia Merz — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Front Matter

Die Redaktion — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100