Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project

Encouraging actions by the Swiss parliament. A recent parliamentary vote urges the government to set up an independent commission to review disputed cases of art looted or forced into sale during the N**i era. It also urges the government to establish a national database with information on the provenance of the artworks. The government has given its consent to both motions.

These are major steps forward to acknowledge frequent unresolved ownership issues of art looted or forced into sale during the N**i era.

https://eurojewcong.org/news/communities-news/switzerland/swiss-council-of-states-approves-creation-of-independent-commission-on-nazi-looted-art/

Swiss Council of States approves creation of commission on N**i-looted art - European Jewish Congress The Swiss Federal Council is to create an independent commission on N**i looted art. The Upper House of the Swiss Parliament has supported the Federal Council proposal and decided to establish a national platform for provenance research.

https://www.jta.org/2022/09/28/global/kandinsky-painting-returned-to-jewish-family-as-netherlands-shifts-approach-to-looted-art?utm_source=JTA_Maropost&utm_campaign=JTA_DB&utm_medium=email&mpweb=1161-48906-392828

A Dutch restitution committee has ruled that the city of Eindhoven return a Kandinsky painting in its possession to the heirs of its former Jewish owner, reversing an earlier ruling by the committee.

JDCRP welcomes the growing trend for museums and state institutions to review unclear provenance and return cultural property stolen during the N**i era to its rightful owners.

Kandinsky painting returned to Jewish family as Netherlands shifts approach to looted art - Jewish Telegraphic Agency The decision reverses a 2018 ruling against the descendants of Johanna Margarethe Stern-Lippmann, who died in Auschwitz.

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https://jdcrp.org/jobs/

Bravo to New York legislators for requiring museums to identify N**i-looted art. This law is a model for all museums! Such signage will create greater awareness of the role of N**i cultural plunder in extinguishing Jewish culture and identity.

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/08/15/nazi-looted-art-new-york-museums-placard-law

N**i-looted art on display in New York museums must be prominently identified as such under new law The new state regulation, signed into law by Governor Hochul, requires museums to install placards or other signage alongside works on view that were looted by the N**is during the Second World War

New York State has begun to promote the use of looted art in Holocaust education.

https://www.jta.org/2022/08/10/ny/new-ny-holocaust-legislation-bolsters-education-looted-art-and-reparations-issues

New NY Holocaust legislation bolsters education, looted art and reparations issues - Jewish Telegraphic Agency Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a trio of laws, including one that demands museum label artwork that might have been stolen during World War II.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/29/arts/design/holocaust-photos-dutch-nazi.html

This article underscores how the perpetrator perspective sadly continues to shape understanding of the Holocaust. Jews are treated as curious and nameless objects.

JDCRP aims to restore the dignity of victims with a central platform of archival material on N**i-looted art. The digital repository will help identify the names, destinies and stolen possessions of Holocaust victims.

Photos That Helped to Document the Holocaust Were Taken by a N**i Historians have relied on Herman Heukels’s pictures of Jewish persecution in World War II, but it’s not widely known that the Dutch photographer shot them as N**i propaganda.

A promising step forward bringing back looted art to its rightful owners.

https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/dutch-review-government-art-collection-f-idUSKBN2OF0PI

Dutch review government art collection for possible N**i plunder | Pictures | Reuters A general view of Collectiecentrum Nederland, a depot of 30,000 m2 of storage space to enable optimum management and preservation of the Dutch national collections. Besides storage, it is also the cou

JDCRP is hiring!

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/arts/design/documenta-review.html

The first international art exhibition Documenta held in the city of Kassel in 1955 consciously excluded Jewish artists. Curator Werner Haftmann, a former N**i who tortured Italian partisans, felt there were no worthy Jewish artists whose works should be displayed.

In 2022, at the latest iteration of Documenta, works by non-Jewish artists with antisemitic imagery are displayed, but no works by Jewish or Israeli artists.

It is time for Documenta to confront its own problematic history and address honestly the issue of antisemitism past and present. Antisemitism is not a matter of opinion or context but a crime of hatred.

Photo courtesy of Documenta website

Among the many crimes of the invading Russian army in Ukraine is the targeted looting campaign by Russian operatives of Ukrainian cultural treasures. It is further evidence of Russia´s attempt to eradicate Ukrainian culture and national identity.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/12/specialist-gang-targeting-ukrainian-treasures-for-removal-to-russia?utm_term=62a58ef52383437e3015ebbe764553e2&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUK_email

Congratulations to Menachem Kaiser on being awarded the Rohr Prize and for bringing attention to such an important issue.

https://www.jta.org/2022/05/18/culture/plunder-menachem-kaisers-memoir-about-reclaiming-his-familys-polish-home-wins-sami-rohr-prize

‘Plunder,’ Menachem Kaiser’s memoir about reclaiming his family’s Polish home, wins Sami Rohr prize - Jewish Telegraphic Agency The annual award is given to a distinguished work of Jewish literature.