State-run German museums disclose works acquired during Nazi era
A Munich-based foundation that oversees the art collections of museums located throughout the titular German state is set to publicly disclose the origins of over 1,000 works acquired during the Nazi rule.
The Bavarian State Painting Collections is launching an extensive database that includes information regarding over 1,200 paintings that researchers have found were acquired during the National Socialist period, or had ownership links to Nazi officials.
There are a series of artworks that were given to museums and galleries during this time that are often subject to legal claims from descendants of persecuted Jewish families.
Operating since 1999, a specialised unit dedicated to origin research has been reviewing all the ownership records of each and every artwork in the Bavarian State Paintings Collections that were created before 1945, and have been acquired since 1933.
Throughout the database notes, a statement will accompany each artwork to alert people of its proper origins.
This protocol is in keeping with the 1998 Washington Principles and the 1999 Joint Declaration of the Federal Government, both of which mounted calls for greater transparency surrounding the provenances of artworks believed to be subject to restitution claims.
Other initiatives have been put into practice around the world, with museums and galleries in New York now now legally required to acknowledge art stolen under the Nazi regime.
The new state law requires New York museums to display signage alongside works of art from before 1945 that are known to have been stolen or forcibly sold during the Nazi rule.
According to legislation and expert testimony, the Germans looted 600,000 works of art during World War II.
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