Soviet zone / GDR

The confiscation of cultural assets in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR – The current state of research and perspectives

Led by executive board member Uwe M. Schneede, the conference organized by the German Lost Art Foundation in conjunction with the Stiftung Brandenburger Tor gave an overview of the current state of research into the confiscation of cultural assets in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR and opened up new research perspectives.

Wolf-Di­et­rich Frei­herr Speck von Stern­burg (Stiftung Max­i­m­il­ian Speck von Stern­burg), Gilbert Lupfer (Staatliche Kun­st­samm­lun­gen Dres­den), Uwe Hart­mann (Ger­man Lost Art Foun­da­tion), Thomas Rud­ert (Staatliche Kun­st­samm­lun­gen Dres­den), Ulf Bischof (lawyer, Berlin), Kon­rad Bre­it­en­born (Stiftung Dome und Schlöss­er Sach­sen-An­halt), Samuel Wit­twer (Prus­sian Palaces and Gar­dens Foun­da­tion Berlin-Bran­den­burg), Michaela Scheibe (Staats­bib­lio­thek zu Berlin) and Pe­tra Win­ter (Zen­tralarchiv Berlin) spoke about the present state of knowl­edge in mu­se­ums, li­braries and archives, ac­knowl­edged the role of the Staatlich­er Kun­sthandel der DDR (GDR state art gallery) and de­vel­oped per­spec­tives for fu­ture re­search projects.

In a num­ber of dis­cus­sion ses­sions, the spe­cial­ist au­di­ence of over 110 par­tic­i­pants had the op­por­tu­ni­ty to dis­cuss the top­ics raised in the pre­sen­ta­tions in depth with the speak­ers.

In his sum­ming up, Uwe M. Schneede called up­on ev­ery mu­se­um and ev­ery li­brary in Ger­many to be ab­so­lute­ly sure they knew pre­cise­ly how the items in their hold­ings had been ac­quired. The con­fer­ence had shown that it was high time sys­tem­at­ic in­ves­ti­ga­tion be­gan in­to the mech­a­nisms and struc­tures of state-sanc­tioned art theft in the So­vi­et Oc­cu­pa­tion Zone and the GDR, Schneede said. It was im­por­tant to re­mem­ber that this was an is­sue for Ger­many as a whole, he said.

Find the de­tailed meet­ing re­port here.

Press release

Please note that the manuscripts are on­ly avail­able in Ger­man.

Manuscript (PDF, 47 KB) by Prof. Dr. Gilbert Lupfer, Staatliche Kun­st­samm­lun­gen Dres­den Manuscript (PDF, 72 KB) by Prof. Dr. Kon­rad Bre­it­en­born, Stiftung Dome und Schlöss­er in Sax­ony-An­halt

German Lost Art Foundation
German Lost Art Foundation
German Lost Art Foundation
German Lost Art Foundation
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Prof. Dr. Uwe M. Schneede (l.), Vorstand des Deutschen Zentrums Kulturgutverluste, und Wolf-Dietrich Freiherr Speck von Sternburg, Präsident der Maximilian Speck von Sternburg Stiftung im Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig

Me­dia re­sponse

Please note that the press re­ports are on­ly avail­able in Ger­man.

Frank­furter All­ge­meine Zeitung: Gute Geschäfte, streng geheim und gren­zen­los
Der Tagesspiegel: Der Staat als Hehler
Deutsch­land­funk: En­teig­nung von Kul­turgütern in der DDR - "Es ging im Wesentlichen um Kun­st und An­tiq­ui­täten"