Provenance Research
The Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin is researching its collection for Nazi-confiscated objects.
The Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin is researching its collection for Nazi-confiscated objects.
On December 7th the Deutsches Technikmuseum returned a book that had been stolen by German occupying forces in France during the Second World War. This is the museum’s first act of repatriation within the framework of a research project funded by the German Center for Lost Cultural Property that is looking into the origin of museum objects in the Deutsches Technikmuseum. A book published in 1920 titled “Le fond de la mer (The Seabed)” by the French marine zoologist Louis Joubain was returned. It describes the seas and their inhabitants.
The book’s place of origin could be determined by a stamp on the title page. This led the provenance research team to Pontlevoy, France. In that small town near Tours there used to be a girls' school from which the book was stolen. Today the Lycée Catholique de Pontlevoy is found at that location and the book was ceremonially accepted by its director in the presence of the students.
The Deutsches Technikmuseum collects all manner of items relating to the cultural history of technology. This includes not only large vehicles like locomotives, airplanes, and ships, but also many everyday devices such as radios, typewriters, bicycles, and cameras.
But how did these objects end up in the Museum? And more importantly, who did they belong to before they got here?
In 2017, the Museum began scouring its collection for objects that had been confiscated by the Nazi regime, mostly from Jewish owners. The collection of historic automobiles was the first to have its provenance investigated.
From May 2019 to May 2020, the pilot project "Identification of Nazi-looted goods in collections of technical history", funded by the German Lost Art Foundation in Magdeburg, has developed a strategy for systematically reviewing its collections.
Afterwards, the deep-going investigation of the collections began. The two-year project "Identification of Nazi-looted goods in the collection of the Deutsches Technikmuseum inventoried between 1982 and 1989" is again being funded by the German Lost Art Foundation.
Peter Schwirkmann
Department Head Collections Services
schwirkmann@technikmuseum.berlin
Tel +49 30 902 54 157
Elisabeth Weber
Tel +49 30 902 54 455
Peter Prölß
Tel +49 30 902 54 457
