Namibian cultural heritage in German-speaking institutions

German Lost Art Foundation publishes new working paper entitled Locating Namibian Cultural Heritage in Museums and Universities in German-Speaking Countries. A Finding Aid for Provenance Research.

26. February 2024

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Do feel free to get in touch with us directly – whether at the Foundation’s headquarters in Magdeburg or at our branch office in Berlin.
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German Lost Art Foundation

Humboldtstr. 12
39112 Magdeburg

Germany
Phone:  +49 (0) 391 727 763 0
E-mail:  kontakt@kulturgutverluste.de
Social:

German Lost Art Foundation Berlin Branch Office

Seydelstr. 18
10117 Berlin

Berlin
Phone: +49 (0) 391 727 763 0
E-mail: kontakt@kulturgutverluste.de

The Help Desk offers advice and assistance to victims of the Nazi regime and their descendants on questions relating to Nazi theft of cultural property. Serving as a central and initial low-threshold point of contact in Germany, it is aimed in particular at people whose place of residence is outside Germany and who are unfamiliar with German procedures, especially in connection with cultural federalism. The Help Desk seeks to provide support in taking initial steps as well as providing further contacts and information. We will also be happy to help initiate discussions with museums and other institutions.

German Lost Art Foundation, Branch Office
Dr. Susanne Meyer-Abich
Head of Help Desk

Seydelstr. 18
10117 Berlin

Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 391 727 763 0
E-mail: helpdesk@kulturgutverluste.de

The German Lost Art Foundation has published a comprehensive study on cultural and collection items from Namibia to be found in relevant museums and universities in German-speaking countries. The study is the first collation of information from around 40 selected museums and universities in Germany, Switzerland and Austria on almost 19,000 objects, most of which found their way to these institutions as a result of colonisation by the German Reich, and in most cases they are still held at these institutions today.

“These are astonishingly high numbers, especially when you compare them to the holdings in the Namibian National Museum, which has some 1,600 objects,” says Larissa Förster, Head of the Department of Cultural Goods and Collections from Colonial Contexts at the German Lost Art Foundation and one of the authors of the study.

The publication aims to serve as a working tool for European and Namibian provenance researchers and promote networking between European institutions and Namibian experts. Last but not least, it seeks to inform the debate on the restitution of Namibian cultural assets.

Locating Namibian Cultural Heritage in Museums and Universities in German-Speaking Countries. A Finding Aid for Provenance Research was compiled by Larissa Förster (Head of the Department of Cultural Goods and Collections from Colonial Contexts at the German Lost Art Foundation), Gesa Grimme (Coordination Centre for Scientific University Collections in Germany) and Christoph Rippe (freelance provenance researcher) and is published in the series Working Paper Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste. The working paper is available free of charge on the publication platform of the Max Weber Foundation https://perspectivia.net at https://doi.org/10.25360/01-2024-00002

The working paper will be presented on Wednesday, 28 February 2024, at 6:00 p.m. in the Kurssaal, Hermann von Helmholtz Center for Cultural Techniques, Humboldt University of Berlin, Campus Nord – Haus 3, Philippstr. 13, 10115 Berlin (to the site plan).