Photographs |
Collection of Raoul Korty
Author:
Margot Werner
Margot Werner
Provenance Research in the Austrian National Library: Work in Progress
In 2002 and 2003, the Austrian National Library (ÖNB) conducted a project to identify books looted during the Nazi period. In accordance with the 1998 Art Restitution Act, the origins of around 450,000 books and collection objects inventoried between 1938 and 1960 were investigated. The result was surprising: over 52,000 objects were deemed to be suspicious. The research results were summarized in 2003 in a comprehensive report and communicated to the Commission for Provenance Research. One case in particular, Raoul Korty’s photo collection, stands out, first on account of the number of seized pictures still stored in the depot where they had been deposited by the Gestapo in 1939, and secondly as an example of the ambivalent approach by the Austrian National Library to its post-war restitution obligations.
By the end of 2021, the ÖNB had restituted 95 per cent of the looted works: 49,591 objects had been returned – including 8,363 books in 2010, 2,255 books in 2018 and 374 maps in 2020 whose previous owners could not be identified and which were thus given to the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism. The ÖNB repurchased all of the heirless objects after their restitution.
Provenance research at the ÖNB is an ongoing and institutionalized project. Restitutions will continue as soon as pending decisions on further groups of objects are announced by the Art Restitution Advisory Board and as a function of new research findings.
Margot Werner, Provenance researcher and head of the main department
back
In 2002 and 2003, the Austrian National Library (ÖNB) conducted a project to identify books looted during the Nazi period. In accordance with the 1998 Art Restitution Act, the origins of around 450,000 books and collection objects inventoried between 1938 and 1960 were investigated. The result was surprising: over 52,000 objects were deemed to be suspicious. The research results were summarized in 2003 in a comprehensive report and communicated to the Commission for Provenance Research. One case in particular, Raoul Korty’s photo collection, stands out, first on account of the number of seized pictures still stored in the depot where they had been deposited by the Gestapo in 1939, and secondly as an example of the ambivalent approach by the Austrian National Library to its post-war restitution obligations.
By the end of 2021, the ÖNB had restituted 95 per cent of the looted works: 49,591 objects had been returned – including 8,363 books in 2010, 2,255 books in 2018 and 374 maps in 2020 whose previous owners could not be identified and which were thus given to the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism. The ÖNB repurchased all of the heirless objects after their restitution.
Provenance research at the ÖNB is an ongoing and institutionalized project. Restitutions will continue as soon as pending decisions on further groups of objects are announced by the Art Restitution Advisory Board and as a function of new research findings.
Margot Werner, Provenance researcher and head of the main department
back
