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This virtual gallery contains objects of relevance to Nazi provenance research, which systematically investigates the origins and whereabouts of objects acquired during the Nazi regime. The focus is on the property rights to these things, in particular the question of their rightful owners. Even today there are still publicly and privately held objects that were cheaply acquired, extorted or expropriated by the Nazi regime and its supporters. The original owners were systematically robbed, persecuted, expelled, incarcerated, tortured and murdered by the National Socialist regime and its beneficiaries on the basis of the Nazi race laws.
The Art Restitution Act was promulgated in Austria in 1998 to regulate art restitutions on a federal level. This law also covers objects deemed today to have been illegally acquired in the Nazi period. It applies to all federal museums, libraries and collections.
In 2015 the Volkskundemuseum Wien (ÖMV), although a private museum not strictly covered by the law, voluntarily subscribed to systematic provenance research and restitution. The investigation is conducted in close cooperation with the Commission for Provenance Research, and the museum has a dedicated provenance researcher to identify potentially illegally acquired objects. A number of objects have already been restituted.
To mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Art Restitution Act and the ÖMV’s own eight years of experience, we decided to inaugurate this virtual gallery so as to shed more light on themes, results and objects of Nazi provenance research. The gallery, which uses a variety of digital imaging techniques, serves as a presentation platform for all museums, libraries and collections carrying out provenance research under the Art Restitution Act.
All institutions covered by the Act were invited by the ÖMV project team to choose an object or set of objects and explain the reasons for their selection as a means of illustrating their provenance research and restitution practice.
The invitation was addressed to the directors of the following institutions:
The gallery is part of an extensive project on Nazi provenance research and restitution practice at the Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art. At its centre is the exhibition Collected at any cost! which opens on 21 April 2023 at Gartenpalais Schönborn.
Maria Raid, Kathrin Pallestrang, Magdalena Puchberger, Claudia Spring
Visit the gallery
The Art Restitution Act was promulgated in Austria in 1998 to regulate art restitutions on a federal level. This law also covers objects deemed today to have been illegally acquired in the Nazi period. It applies to all federal museums, libraries and collections.
In 2015 the Volkskundemuseum Wien (ÖMV), although a private museum not strictly covered by the law, voluntarily subscribed to systematic provenance research and restitution. The investigation is conducted in close cooperation with the Commission for Provenance Research, and the museum has a dedicated provenance researcher to identify potentially illegally acquired objects. A number of objects have already been restituted.
To mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Art Restitution Act and the ÖMV’s own eight years of experience, we decided to inaugurate this virtual gallery so as to shed more light on themes, results and objects of Nazi provenance research. The gallery, which uses a variety of digital imaging techniques, serves as a presentation platform for all museums, libraries and collections carrying out provenance research under the Art Restitution Act.
All institutions covered by the Act were invited by the ÖMV project team to choose an object or set of objects and explain the reasons for their selection as a means of illustrating their provenance research and restitution practice.
The invitation was addressed to the directors of the following institutions:
- ART COLLECTIONS OF THE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS
- ALBERTINA
- AUSTRIAN MUSEUM OF FOLK LIFE AND FOLK ART
- AUSTRIAN NATIONAL LIBRARY
- VIENNA FURNITURE MUSEUM
- KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM VIENNA
- LEOPOLD MUSEUM PRIVATE FOUNDATION
- MAK – MUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTS
- MUMOK – MUSEUM MODERNER KUNST STIFTUNG LUDWIG WIEN
- MUSEUM OF MILITARY HISTORY
- MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
- MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
- AUSTRIAN GALLERY BELVEDERE
- THEATRE MUSEUM
- VIENNA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
- WELTMUSEUM WIEN
The gallery is part of an extensive project on Nazi provenance research and restitution practice at the Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art. At its centre is the exhibition Collected at any cost! which opens on 21 April 2023 at Gartenpalais Schönborn.
Maria Raid, Kathrin Pallestrang, Magdalena Puchberger, Claudia Spring
Visit the gallery
