Munich (dpa / lby) – According to Bavaria’s Minister of Art Markus Blume (CSU), the return of cultural assets stolen as a result of persecution to their rightful owners should be regulated uniformly. “Here, the federal government has a duty to introduce a restitution law before the end of this legislative period,” said Blume on Thursday in Munich. Coming to terms with the injustices of National Socialism and the colonial past is painful. But: “Provenance research is our ethical obligation.”
In Bavaria there is a research association for provenance research, to which 26 institutions belong, such as the German National Museum in Nuremberg or the Bavarian State Painting Collections. The researchers check whether there is a suspicion of looted art and, if this is the case, try to find the rightful owners. So far, this is based on a non-legally binding agreement, the Washington Declaration.
According to the activity report for the past year, the work of the researchers resulted in the return of 24 objects to the previous owners or their heirs in 2021, including paintings, documents, letters, books and a porcelain box.
According to the Ministry of Art, 937 objects from Bavarian museums and libraries were entered on the internet platform lostart.de. The site makes it possible to research cultural assets that the Nazis had stolen. The institutions in the network are currently working on 48 projects on looted art.
