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.

Last call for JDCRP job applications, to apply and for more information visit:

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.

On , JDCRP deputy board chair Wesley Fisher reflects on the tragedy of those who were murdered and the fate of millions of unclaimed objects they once owned.

https://issuu.com/free_times/docs/holocaust_remembered_2022_for_issuu_final/s/15589558

Will the Lost Museum Become The Found Museum? - Issuu The journalist Hector Feliciano published a book first in French in 1995 and then in English in 1997 called The Lost Museum in which he called attention to the collections in many countries of unclaimed art that had been looted by the N**is and their allies, collections that had been recovered by th...

Well-deserved recognition for Boston museum curator Victoria Reed . Her sleuthing to determine the rightful owners of artworks sets new museum standards, according to provenance researcher Marc Masurovsky : “She’s been a pragmatic spokesperson for the way museums should handle their affairs.”

https://lnkd.in/dzzAjXkW

A Long Way Home for ‘Looted’ Art Is Getting Shorter Curators at major museums are increasingly grappling with a thorny topic: restitution.

On this 4th International Provenance Research Day 2022, the Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project Foundation salutes the many dedicated and unheralded provenance researchers and archivists working to uncover, restore and rescue cultural heritage, also in Ukraine :

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/08/ukraine-digital-history/

Working with partner institutions, JDCRP is compiling a central data platform of cultural objects plundered by the National Socialists, their allies, and collaborators to:

• reconstruct the theft,
• chronicle the magnitude of the crime,
• honor the victims,
• restore the history of European Jewish culture and identity, and
• ensure knowledge for the future of the integral role of cultural theft in genocide.

Meet the 1,300 librarians racing to back up Ukraine’s digital archives Over the past month, 1,300 librarians and archivists across the world, have used open source tools to back up everything from Ukraine's historical records and census data to children’s poems and Ukrainian basket weaving techniques.

Indescribable that Holocaust survivors must suffer war again.

We applaud the German Foreign Ministry and the Claims Conference for their extraordinary efforts to bring Holocaust survivors in Ukraine to safety in Germany.

https://apnews.com/article/holocaust-survivors-flee-ukraine-to-germany-55fae67ceebbe88e8edf04ce387d374b?user_email=5da239fc1fb34355149677b44a821a07f4a0134d60f8f125d212d4630ed51f5f&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Russia%20Ukraine&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers

Holocaust survivors flee from Ukraine to Germany for safety FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — When the bombs started falling on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, last month, Tatyana Zhuravliova had a horrible deja vu: the 83-year-old Ukrainian Jew felt the same panic she suffered as a little girl when the N**is were flying air attacks on her hometown of Odesa.

Thank you to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance for new guidelines to promote more open access to archives related to the Holocaust. This moving video explains why:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxPNTTLG2cI

Find your answers: gaining access to Holocaust-related material Researchers and archivists face all kinds of challenges in piecing together the story of a life. But open access to materials about the Holocaust is crucial:...

An international digital effort is underway to save Ukrainian cultural heritage. Ukraine has seven UNESCO World Heritage sites, with 17 more under consideration.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/03/19/ukraine-cultural-heritage-preservation/

A lab in rural Virginia is racing to preserve Ukraine’s cultural heritage Inside a global effort to save Ukraine's cultural treasures.

Among the many tragedies of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is the destruction of cultural heritage in a country rich with cultural and natural treasures. It is a great loss for European culture and history.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/travel/ukraine-architecture-war.html?campaign_id=249&emc=edit_ruwb_20220311&instance_id=55610&nl=russia-ukraine-war-briefing®i_id=137631454&segment_id=85371&te=1&user_id=33aa0d44ce920f4f25c098b58c88cfe2

‘This Is Everyone’s Culture’: Ukraine’s Architectural Treasures Face Destruction The country’s vast array of historic buildings, artworks and public squares are an integral part of Ukraine’s cultural identity. Amid the violence of war, many are being reduced to rubble.

Is this just the beginning?

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/maria-prymachenko-ukraine-russia-2078634

Russian Forces Burned Down a Museum Home to Dozens of Works by Ukrainian Folk Artist Maria Prymachenko Ukraine's culture minister is among those urgin UNESCO to strip Russia's membership status after the assault.

Ukraine has a rich and diverse cultural history. Following the Russian invasion, no one knows what will remain of its cultural artifacts. It is admirable how brave Ukrainian museum officials are doing everything possible to save their heritage.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60603406

Ukraine: The race to save the country's artistic treasures As the Russian invasion continues, efforts to protect Ukraine's cultural heritage are stepped up.

Digital coordination has started to save Ukranian cultural heritage online

Click this link for more information: https://www.sucho.org

Little illustrates more vividly the dangers of Holocaust distortion than its use by President Putin to justify the invasion of a neighboring country.

https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/museum-condemns-russias-invasion-of-ukraine?utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_source=linkedin&utm_campaign=museumstatement&utm_content=ukrainestatement20220224

Museum concerned about loss of life Putin has misrepresented and misappropriated Holocaust history

Congratulations to our partner in Belgium, Looted Art, as well as Bart Eeman of the Economic Ministry of Belgium for launching its database on N**i-related looted art! It is an important step forward.

https://lootedart.belgium.be/en/database-unrecovered-works-art-looted-during-second-world-war-belgium

An encouraging development: France is returning 15 looted artworks to rightful owners. A shoutout here to David Zivie , a valued JDCRP partner. at the French Ministry of Culture.
We look forward to new legislation currently being drafted by the French government that will ease the return of the the remaining paintings in French government possession.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/france-to-approve-return-of-15-artworks-stolen-from-jews-during-world-war-ii/

France to approve return of 15 artworks stolen from Jews during World War II Motion authorizes public museums holding works, including Musee d'Orsay in Paris, to hand over property to heirs of original owners

Thank you, Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, for this important commentary. As you say, restitution for the Holocaust remains as important as ever, to help aging Holocaust victims and to restore memory and historical justice.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/reparations-restitution-and-the-price-of-forgetting/

Reparations, restitution and the price of forgetting The work of compensating victims and memorializing the Holocaust becomes ever more urgent and daunting as the last eyewitnesses die out

A recent study conducted by the WJC shows antisemitic attitudes rising among young people in Germany. Holocaust education and remembrance are more important now than ever.




https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/wjc-survey-shows-one-in-three-young-germans-holds-antisemitic-attitudes

Nearly one in three young Germans holds antisemitic attitudes, WJC survey finds - World Jewish Congress “The results are alarming. They show the extent of hatred and resentment toward Jews, especially amongst young Germans. It is disturbing to see how widespread conspiracies and anti-Jewish prejudice are”, said WJC President Lauder.

To conclude a month marked by moving ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference and Holocaust Remembrance Day, JDCRP urges you to view this online exhibition. Thank you to the award-winning Gamaraal Foundation in Zürich for sharing these moving oral testimonies of Swiss Holocaust survivors.

Photo courtesy of the Gamaraal Foundation website:

https://gamaraal.com/exhibition/

A touching story about a looted painting from a Jewish collector in Hungary that ended up at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which has now returned it to family members. Thank you, BMFA curator Victoria Reed, for your assistance with the restitution!

https://www.jta.org/2022/01/25/united-states/boston-art-museum-will-return-17th-century-painting-to-heirs-of-its-pre-wwii-jewish-owner

Boston art museum will return 17th-century painting to heirs of its pre-WWII Jewish owner - Jewish Telegraphic Agency In 1943, Ferenc Chorin placed the painting in a bank vault before fleeing Hungary and the N**is.

Peter Ginz was a talented young Czech artist who dreamed of outer space in his “Moon Landscape” drawing. His career ended at the age of 14, when he was murdered at Auschwitz. On this day of commemoration, we remember Peter Ginz and all those whose lives were prematurely and brutally ended by the N**i regime at Auschwitz. May their memories be a blessing.

https://www.butterfliesintheghetto.com/tag/ilan-ramon/

Ilan Ramon Archives - Butterflies in the Ghetto Ilan Ramon and Petr Ginz: The Astronaut and the Prodigy February 7, 2016Children in Terezin, Terezin ArtistsIlan Ramon, Moon Landscape, Petr Ginz, Petr Ginz and Ilan Ramon, petr ginz moon drawing, Petr Ginz Moon Landscape, Shuttle Columbia, Terezin [email protected] There is an incredible a...

A unique Yad Vashem bar/bat mitzvah project creates sensitivity for the fate of children in the Holocaust, and the meaning of individual objects, like a miniature torah scroll that survived.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-694084

Yad Vashem's Bar/Bat Mitzvah program keeps Holocaust memory alive At Yad Vashem, concern over how the Holocaust would remain an integral part of the Jewish consciousness once there were no longer any survivors prompted the start of the twinning program.

80 years ago today, German bureaucrats met at a villa in Berlin Wannsee to coordinate the planned extermination of 11 million European Jews. By January 20, 1942, the killings were already underway. The bureaucrats reinforced the importance of first confiscating and reappropriating all property of European Jewry, first robbing Jewish victims of their possessions and identity before murdering them.

The photo below is courtesy of the House of Wannsee Museum

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/jan/02/retrieved-after-decades-the-painting-supposedly-bought-by-the-nazis
A fascinating new book reveals the brazen cover-up of cultural plunder by N**is and their collaborators with intricate systems of fake auctions and bogus paperwork. The book, written by a descendant of a German-French collector, also shows the ongoing unwillingness of some museums to acknowledge their ownership of art stolen during the N**i era.

Retrieved after decades: the painting supposedly ‘bought’ by the N**is A new book recounts one woman’s struggle to find looted art – and then convince a major museum to give it back

https://www.archyde.com/bern-speeds-up-the-return-of-works-from-the-gurlitt-collection-ahead-of-the-10th-anniversary-of-their-discovery/
Happy New Year! A good year-end development from 2021: More paintings are being returned from the Gurlitt trove. This collection of artworks in the Bern art museum is currently under examination, as some items are suspected of being looted objects from the N**i era.

Bern speeds up the return of works from the Gurlitt Collection ahead of the 10th anniversary of their discovery - Archyde Rosalia Sanchez Berlin Updated:12/14/2021 08:42h Keep A nineteenth-century delight. ‘Das Klavierspiel’, un dibujo de Carl Pitzweg from 1840, depicting a domestic music scene and playing ... Read more

These archives are particularly important to the Jews of Thessaloniki, which before WWII had the largest population of Jews in Greece, around 43,000. Between March 20 and August 19, 1943, German officials deported over 40,000 Jews from Salonika to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center where the SS murdered virtually all of the Salonika Jews upon arrival.

https://lnkd.in/gwfqPx7v

Greek-Jewish archives return home nearly 80 years after they were looted by the N**is - Jewish Telegraphic Agency The archives include books and religious artifacts from 30 synagogues, libraries and communal institutions in Thessaloniki, a city formerly home to one of Europe's most vibrant Jewish communities.

The Swiss Jewish community is urging the Swiss government to form a government commission to clarify unclear provenance of hundreds of disputed artworks in the Zurich art museum and elsewhere in the country.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318815

Swiss Jews accuse private art collection of N**i-era origins Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities denounces private art collection for allegedly containing pieces stolen from Jews by the N**is.

Thank you, Dr. Katherine Kleibl, Director of the German Maritime Museum in Bremen, for your outstanding work tracking ownership of objects confiscated or sold under duress during the N**i era. Your painstaking archival research rescues memories of Holocaust victims and pays tribute to their lives.



https://www.leibniz-magazin.de/alle-artikel/magazindetail/newsdetails/die-museumsdetektivin

Die Museumsdetektivin Raubgut aus der NS-Zeit ist oft bis heute verschollen. Kathrin Kleibl ist auf der Suche nach diesen Objekten und ihren eigentlichen Besitzern.