Thuringia Museum Association undertakes its largest-scale provenance research project

The two-year “First Check” project on items confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution is now underway at 17 Thuringian museums – making it the largest-scale provenance research project to be run by the Thuringian Museum Association (Museumsverband Thüringen e. V.). Collections in institutions as diverse as Kunstsammlung Gera, Ranis Castle Museum and the German Bee Museum in Weimar are being investigated for evidence of objects with an objectionable provenance from the period between 1933 and 1945.

The Thuringian Museum Association has supported the efforts of its member museums in carrying out provenance research since 2020 and has so far acquired three “First Check” projects in the areas of Nazi-looted property and colonial contexts. In addition, the Association set up a Provenance Research Coordination Centre in 2021 which not only offers advice but also actively pursues provenance research in Thuringian museums itself.

The “First Check” project entitled In search of Nazi-looted property at 17 Thuringian museums is funded by the German Lost Art Foundation. “Provenance research is carried out at museums that lack the necessary financial and human resources. Our aim here is to further promote comprehensive provenance research into the various contexts of injustice in Thuringia’s museum institutions,” says Dr. Roland Krischke, President of the Thuringian Museum Association.

“If the investigations uncover concrete evidence that items of cultural property were seized as a result of Nazi persecution, we will seek to initiate follow-up projects dedicated to in-depth research so that items that can be shown to have been looted can be restituted to their rightful owners or the heirs,” Krischke continued.

The following museums are taking part in the “First Check”:

• Altenburg Castle and Playing Card Museum,
• Arnstadt Castle Museum,
• Friedrich Fröbel Museum Bad Blankenburg,
• Kunstsammlung Gera,
• City Museum of Gera,
• Theodor Storm Literature Museum in Heilbad Heiligenstadt,
• Ranis Castle Museum,
• Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg with the Castle Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Princely World of Experience Schwarzburg Palace and the Museum of Monastery, Forestry and Hunting History Paulinzella,
• Saalfeld City Museum in the former Franciscan monastery,
• Sondershausen Castle Museum,
• the German Toy Museum Sonneberg,
• Hennebergisches Museum Veßra Monastery,
• the German Bee Museum Weimar and
• the Museum of Pre- and Ancient History and Early History of Thuringia in Weimar.

To the project

For more information about the Thuringian Museum Association, see: museumsverband-thueringen.de