Die Verantwortung dauert an. Beiträge deutscher Institutionen zum Umgang mit NS-verfolgungsbedingt entzogenem Kulturgut

by Andrea Baresel-Brand

The responsibility continues: The subject of cultural objects seized by the Nazis still remains in the centre of numerous national and international activities and discussions even 65 years after the end of the Second World War and the terror reign of the Nazis in Germany. This volume contains contributions from various authors affiliated with institutions, museums, libraries, and archives that are supporting the research and return of Nazi looted cultural objects. The book does not only present an interim balance of achievements but also an orientation to finding fairer solutions in the future within the framework of the Washington Principles (1998), the German Joint Declaration (1999) and the Theresianstadt Declaration (2009).


Text in German with summaries in English and Hebrew.

483 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Ursula · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Responsibility Continues" is the title of Volume 8 of a series of books published by the Coordination Office Magdeburg in Germany and edited by Andrea Baresel-Brand. The Coordination Office was founded on the initiative of 10 Bundeslaender. Its activities… “include the task of implementing the Washington Principles and subsequent agreements by using the website www.lostart.de to document German and international search requests and lost and found reports on cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution (‘Nazi-confiscated art’) and on cultural property looted during or after the war. The website aims to increase the possibility of identifying objects by means of the transparent documentation of private and institutional reports…” (Baresel-Brand, 2010, 431-40). Volume 8 contains contributions from German institutions regarding the whereabouts of cultural goods that the Nazis stole from the Jewish people during the last World War.

This is a very useful book for readers interested in Provenance Research related to World War II. Even 67 years after the end of World II, German responsibility continues in searching, identifying and restituting cultural objects lost or stolen from the Jews during the war.