Network of European Restitution Committees on Nazi-Looted Art

Am 1. Januar 2019 haben sich die fünf Kommissionen, die sich in Europa mit der Erforschung und Rückgabe von Kulturgut befassen, das NS-verfolgungsbedingt entzogen wurde, zu dem Network of European Restitution Committees on Nazi-Looted Art zusammengeschlossen: die Beratende Kommission im Zusammenhang mit der Rückgabe NS-verfolgungsbedingt entzogenen Kulturguts, insbesondere aus jüdischem Besitz (Deutschland), die Commission pour l'indemnisation des victimes de spoliations (Frankreich), das Spoliation Advisory Panel (Großbritannien), die Restitutiecommissie (Niederlande) und die Kommission für Provenienzforschung (Österreich). Die Leitung des Netzwerkes wechselt jährlich.

Newsletter, August 2024 – N°18

INTRO Introduction by Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery and Chair of the Spoliation Working Group of the National Museum Directors’ Council (NMDC)
NEWS Changes at the Commission for the Compensation of Victims of Spoliation (CIVS); Renewal of the CIVS advisory board; Appointment of Frédérique Dreifuss-Netter as President of the CIVS; The unheard things – another kind of provenance research. An interdisciplinary contribution to the Capital of Culture Year 2024; Reform of Germany’s Advisory Commission; Painting ‘Fighting Card Players’ returns to Meijer Marcus van Praag’s heirs; New members and parting members Dutch Restitutions Committee; Activities in the Netherlands concerning looted art; New Book: Nazi-era Provenance of Museum Collections: A research guide by Jacques Schuhmacher; Network Of European Restitution Committees Spoliation conference at the V&A
REPORT Report on the last meetings of the Austrian Art Restitution Advisory Board
CASE STUDIES Paintings attributed to Sir Peter Paul Rubens, in the possession of the Courtauld Institute of Art; Restitution of 60 objects from the Siegfried Fuchs Collection by the Museum of Military History/Military History Institute Vienna; Restitution to the heirs of Adalbert Parlagi; The Museum of Military History in Vienna restitutes 560 objects from the Saul Juer collection

Newsletter, December 2023 – N°17

INTRO A message from Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Arts and Heritage and DCMS Lords Minister; Introduction by Rt Hon Sir Donnell Deeny, Chairman of the United Kingdom Spoliation Advisory Panel
NEWS The Commission for the Compensation of Victims of Spoliation (CIVS) welcomes its new director; Publication of the 2022 CIVS Activity Report; Painting Landscape with a Waterfall is returned to Gosschalk’s heirs; Appointment of New Chair and Committee Member for the Dutch Restitutions Committee; Byzantine ivory relief returns to heirs of partners Kunsthaus A.S. Drey; The Commission for Provenance Research on a Visit at the Museum of Military History/Military History Institute; Portraits, Drawings, Photos, and a Spectacular Prayer Book: Four Recommendations by the Art Restitution Advisory Board; New entries released in the Lexicon of Austrian Provenance Research; Memorandum from the members of the Advisory Commission; Report of the Spoliation Advisory Panel on La Ronde Enfantine by Goustave Courbet
REPORT NMDC Nazi-era Provenance Research Training at The Victoria & Albert Museum; A new bilateral meeting bringing together the French deliberative college and the Austrian Advisory Board
ARTICLE A bill concerning the restitution of cultural property spoliated as a result of anti-Semitic persecution between 1933 and 1945 has been voted
CASE STUDIES The Fate of Albert Pollak and his Collection: A Special Exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna; Restitution of Anton Romako's watercolour study "Reclining hunting dog"; From Freudenthal to Vienna: On the restitution of a fortepiano to the Teutonic Order

Newsletter, April 2023 – N°16

INTRO A message from Claudia Roth, Falko Mohrs, Reinhard Sager; Greetings by Prof. Hans-Jürgen Papier
ADVISORY COMMISSION Interview with Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat: “The Washington Principles have had a ripple effect.”; Interview with Prof. Rita Süssmuth: “It´s always about more than just an image...”; Not the law, but the right thing to do? On the discussions surrounding the Advisory Commission 2003-2023; Mediation by the German Advisory Commission – idea and realisation
NEWS Views of Restitution: Gutmann Family and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen; Dick Oostinga Vice-Chair of Restitutions Committee; Round Table on the Evaluation of Bührle Collection Provenance Research – Final Report; The Commission for the Compensation of Victims of Spoliation (CIVS) changes management in spring 2023; Publication of the 2021 activity report; “A la trace” Stories of artworks looted during the Nazi regime; A Museum – An Object – A Story. Virtual gallery on Nazi provenance research and restitution in Austrian museums, collections and libraries
REPORTS The future of Wiedergutmachung records; Art, Looting, and Restitution – Forgotten Life Stories; Projects of the Bonner Center of Reconciliation Studies – Politics of remembrance under the sign of ambiguity tolerance; Educational trip to Poland, September 2022
CASE STUDIES Update: A German family hands over to France two paintings stolen in Brittany during the Occupation; Restitution to heirs of Dr. Erich Stern; The painter Hirschenhauser and a special work of art; The Fritz Illner collection. Provenance Research in the Natural History Museum Vienna

Newsletter, January 2023 – N°15

INTRO Focus on Switzerland
NEWS Stay informed with the Newsletter: Cultural Goods World War II; New ruling after reconsideration based on new facts; New recommendation and rulings: Six artworks to be returned to the beneficiaries of Emma Budge (1852-1937); New seminars at Institut national d‘histoire de l‘art (INHA) in Paris; The Museums of Strasbourg are organising an exhibition on their “National Recuperation Museums”; New website of Mission de recherche et de restitution des biens culturels spoliés entre 1933 et 1945 (M2RS) / Ministry of Culture; LostLift database online soon; Law without Law. Past and present of restitution of Nazi-confiscated art. A multi disciplinary research project at the Europa-Universität Viadrina
REPORTS Provenance Research in the Federal Art Administration; “Reicher Fischzug für die Stadt”. An oil sketch by Peter Paul Rubens in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud in Cologne on loan from the Federal Republic of Germany; The ICOM Museum Definition of the 21st Century; Report on the symposium “The spoliation of musical instruments in Europe, 1933-1945”; 100th meeting of the Austrian Art Restitution Advisory Board - five recommendations adopted
CASE STUDIES The Hanns Fischl collection - new insights to a well-known case; Vienna University Library: return of a book to the descendants of Raoul Fernand Mercedes-Jellinek;  A German family hands over to France two paintings stolen in Brittany during the Occupation
FOCUS SWITZERLAND Annual Conference - Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e. V. at the Kunstmuseum Basel, 23 November 2022; Portrait: Schweizerischer Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung (SAP/ASP); Players in the Swiss art trade. A new large-scale research project at the Swiss Institute for Art Research (SIK-ISEA) in Zurich; Round Table on the Evaluation of Bührle Collection Provenance Research: An Interim Report; Taking fair and just decisions based on findings leading to an incomplete or uncertain state of evidence. The decision of the Kunstmuseum Bern in the restitution claim asserted by the heirs of Dr. Ismar Littmann

Newsletter, September 2022 – N°14

EDITORIAL Taking on historical responsibility
NEWS 70 Years of Holocaust Compensation and Restitution; transfer. Journal for Provenance Research and the History of Collection; Meeting CIVS / Advisory Commission, Berlin 1 July 2022; New entries online: Lexicon of Austrian Provenance Research; New Recommendation: The Dutch State Restitutes Coecke van Aelst Drawing to Feldmann Heirs; Dutch Restitutions Committee’s 2021 Annual Report; New Independent Colonial Collections Restitutions Committee
REPORTS Report on Austria’s activities on the occasion of the 4th international Provenance Research Day; Report on the “Restitution in the Post-War Period” workshop, 5 May 2022; Expropriated, restituted, marketed. How Austrian museums still make money with Nazi looted art; Never trust your dictionary: language, translation, and looted art; Restitution of “Jewish” silver plundered in 1939 ; Investigating what is not there; Seizing the Moment: The JDCRP Open-Source Digital Data Platform for  Nazi-Era Cultural Plunder; ZADIK Central Archive for German and International Art Market Studies – an  academic institute researching contexts in the art world; The OFP Project at the Brandenburgische Landeshauptarchiv in Potsdam
CASE STUDIES 5 books returned to the descendants of French politician Georges Mandel; On the return of a book from the library of Eugen Herz; “Souvenirs” from alien lands: Hans Abel`s “donation” to the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna
ADDENDUM Billions to break the silence (Reparations Agreement between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany 1952)

Newsletter, May 2022 – N°13

INTRO A message from the Minister of State for Culture and the Media
INTRO Dear Reader; EDITORIAL Towards a restitution law?
NEWS Working visit to CollectionCentre Netherlands (CC NL); Report on the 99th Session of the Austrian Art Restitution Advisory Board; A landscape at Liechtensteinstrasse 45 in Vienna: exhibition; The Provenance Research Day – an Update; Order of Merit for the pioneers of Provenance Research; KPF.NRW – A new Player in the Network of Provenance Research; Franz Hofmann and Sophie Hagemann Foundation compensates the heirs of Felix Hildesheimer and makes plans for a fresh start
REPORTS Provenance Research on Stringed Instruments; “All my father‘s notes are missing here …“ Auctioned musicalia from the belongings of Jewish emigrants in the port of Hamburg; A New Approach to Provenance: The ‘Provenance Studies’ Program at Leuphana University Lüneburg; Europe and Germany 1939-45. Violence in the Museum
CASE STUDIES Alfred Menzel: “The only memento of a murdered grandfather”; The collection of Albert Pollak in the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art in Vienna: seized – acquired – restituted – involuntary donated – restituted; ‘Source Material is Indispensable in the Quest for Justice’ Restitution of Nazi Looted Art after Discovery of Jewish Family Archive; New Perspectives for looted Libraries
ADDENDUM The ‘return of beauty’? The restitution of fascist-looted cultural property in Italy, 1945-1991

Newsletter, December 2021 – N°12

INTRO Dear Reader; NEWS A Look Back at Restitutions Committee Meetings to mark twenty years of Dutch restitution policy; Research Project The Mauritshuis in the War; Report on the 98th meeting of the Art Restitution Advisory Board; Relaunch of the Lexicon of Austrian Provenance Research 2021; CASE STUDIES The collections of Anna and Konrad Mautner in the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art in Vienna: seized – acquired – restituted – donated – exhibited; From prehistory to modern times: the Robert Piowaty collection; The fate of Robert Piowaty and his family; NEWS CIVS Activity Report 2020; In France, a bill for the return and restitution of looted works of art; CASE STUDY Cases study; ADDENDUM Why a “Restatement of Restitution Rules for Nazi-Confiscated Art”? Observations on the “weighing of interests” in light of the Kohnstamm Report

Newsletter, October 2021 – N°11

Restitutions Committee Chair Appointed; INTRO Introduction Else van Sterkenburg; NEWS Ninety-seventh meeting of the Art Restitution Advisory Board; CASE STUDIES Adella Feuer and the “Viennese Mayor”; The drawing by Giovanni da Udine from the Michael Berolzheimer collection; NEWS Commission for Provenance Research publications… GO OPEN ACCESS!; CASE STUDIES Introduction; Case 1: Eglise de Pont-Saint-Martin (Maurice Utrillo); Case 2: a portrait of a woman and a tapestry from the Gobelins factory; Case 3: four drawings and watercolours; Contextualisation and conclusion

Newsletter, June 2021 – N°10

INTERVIEW Interview with the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science; NEWS New research projects for NIOD’s Expert Centre Restitution; A landscape at Liechtensteinstraße 45 in Vienna; Search for heirs and art restitution with the aid of diplomacy: interministerial collaboration in Austrian art restitution; Three artworks from the national collections lost during World War II have been returned to France; Return of 12 works to the heirs of Armand Dorville; The Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin returns to the French Ministry of the Armed Forces a book looted during the Occupation; CASE STUDIES Case Study: Doris J. Klang; Thinking Provenance Thinking Restitution; Why comparing with others can be a good thing

Newsletter, April 2021 – N°9

FOREWORD Dear Reader - Els H. Swaab; NEWS A New Assessment Framework in the Netherlands - Jan van Kreveld; Programme INHA; Restitution of four graphic works to the legal successors of Moriz Grünebaum; Recommendation in the case of The Marriage Feast at Cana - Jaap Cohen; INTERVIEW #Everynamecounts; CASE STUDY Georges Mandel

Newsletter, January 2021 – N°8

EDITORIAL; NEWS; CASE STUDIES Max Pechstein “Nus dans un paysage”; Göttweig Abbey: a case study; REPORTS 2019 CIVS Activity Report; Personalia: Janine Drai; JUST Act – Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today; Forfeiture of assets – Austrian post-war justice and restitution as illustrated by the watchmaker Bartholomäus Schmid; From the “Washington Principles” to the “Handreichung”; 20th anniversary of the Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V.; FIELD REPORT The office of the Commission for Provenance Research seen from the outside; ADDENDUM JDCRP

Newsletter, September 2020 – N°7

EDITORIAL; NEWS; CASE STUDIES Advisory Commission: Hans von Marées, Uhlans on the March; Spoliation Advisory Panel: A gothic relief in ivory; REPORTS Provenance Research Day; Provenance research at the University of Vienna; IDAC – Law Art Culture Institute, University of Lyon; UMA – Universal Museum of Art; FIELD REPORT After the famous cases – Provenance research and the sociological shift; ADDENDUM Provenance research in Slovenia: An interview with Barbara Murovec

Newsletter, May 2020 – N°6

EDITORIAL; NEWS; CASE STUDIES The Netherlands Art Property Collection; Egon Schiele, Four Trees/Autumn Allée; REPORTS Provenance Research at the V&A Museum; Two conference reports; Rose Valland: En quête de l’art spolié; FIELD REPORT Seeking heirs for Austrian art restitution; ADDENDUM Art Restitution in the United States

Newsletter, January 2020 – N°5

EDITORIAL Clemens Jabloner; NEWS; CASE STUDY The Kirstein Case; PRESENTATION OF A COMMITTEE Germany’s Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property

Newsletter, October 2019 – N°4

EDITORIAL Prof. Hans-Jürgen Papier; NEWS; CASE STUDY Three Meissen Figures in the possession of the Victoria and Albert Museum; PRESENTATION OF A COMMITTEE Commission for Provenance Research

Newsletter, August 2019 – N°3

EDITORIAL Fred Hammerstein; NEWS; CASE STUDY The \u201eWelfenschatz\u201c (\u201eGuelph Treasure\u201c); PRESENTATION OF A COMMITTEE The Spoliation Advisory Panel

Newsletter, June 2019 – N°2

EDITORIAL Sir Donnell Deeny; NEWS; CASE STUDY 2018, Peasant Girl with Spade (August Xaver von Pettenkofen); PRESENTATION OF A COMMITTEE Restitutions Committee

Newsletter, March 2019 – N°1

EDITORIAL Michel Jeannoutot; NEWS; CASE STUDY 2018, Dedham from Langham (John Constable); ANNOUNCEMENTS; PRESENTATION OF A COMMITTEE CIVS