NEWS Newsletter June 2021 – N°10 Published by the Restitiutions Committee JUNE 2021 – N°10 1 NEWS Content INTERVIEW Interview with the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science 3 NEWS New research projects for NIOD’s Expert Centre Restitution 7 NEWS A landscape at Liechtensteinstraße 45 in Vienna 9 NEWS Search for heirs and art restitution with the aid of diplomacy: interministerial collaboration in Austrian art restitution 11 NEWS Three artworks from the national collections lost during World War II have been returned to France 15 NEWS Return of 12 works to the heirs of Armand Dorville 16 NEWS The Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin returns to the French Ministry of the Armed Forces a book looted during the Occupation 19 CASE STUDY Case Study: Doris J. Klang 20 CASE STUDY ‘Thinking Provenance Thinking Restitution’ 24 CASE STUDY Why comparing with others can be a good thing 27 JUNE 2021 – N°10 2 NEWS NETHERLANDS PHOTO: ARENDA OOMEN MINISTER INGRID VAN ENGELSHOVEN NETHERLANDS Interview with the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science This year marks the 20th far beyond the material. It is about recogni- anniversary of the Restitutions zing the injustice that was done to the original Committee and the Netherlands’ owners, and it also represents at least some restitution policy. How do you see form of redress for that injustice. the past 20 years? Since the launch of the current restitution The Restitutions Committee does essential policy, the Restitutions Committee has issued work. For 20 years, it has been working to give 164 (binding) recommendations. In total, original owners and their heirs the opportu- it has ensured the return of 589 objects to nity to recover cultural heritage objects that their rightful owners or their heirs. I am very they lost against their will during or immedi- grateful to the committee and its members ately prior to the Second World War. Restitu- for the important work that they have done in tion is very important. Its signifcance goes all those years. JUNE 2021 – N°10 3 INTERVIEW NETHERLANDS It has now been 76 years since the Netherlands was liberated from the Nazi regime, but the Second World War still leaves its mark on the present. At the same time, I think it is very important whether restitution policy continues to be to keep a watchful eye on our policy in this adequate in its current form, were an additio- complex area, even after 20 years. What is nal reason for a thorough review. going well, and what is going less well? Are any improvements needed? Are there new For that reason, at the end of 2019 I asked possibilities for conducting provenance the Council for Culture to analyse the policy research? These are the questions that we in-depth and across the board, and to advise must continue to ask in the interest of the me on improvements. As far as I am concer- original owners and their heirs. ned, the Council and the Kohnstamm Com- mittee have conducted this review very tho- roughly. They have highlighted some valid At the end of 2019, you asked points on which our restitution policy can be the Dutch Council for Culture to improved, which I intend to implement forth- evaluate the current restitution with. I already made a start on this last March, policy. Why was that? by updating the assessment framework for restitution requests. And now I am taking a It has now been 76 years since the Nether- number of further measures to improve res- lands was liberated from the Nazi regime, titution policy. but the Second World War still leaves its mark on the present. For example, there are still cultural heritage objects dating in the Nether- You announce1 that you will be lands, whose provenance during that period making €1.5 million available every is suspicious and which may have been looted year for the next four years in order by the Nazi regime. It is the government’s res- to make these improvements to ponsibility to deal with these objects fairly and restitution policy. What will you prudently through its restitution policy. achieve with this extra funding? That responsibility also means that restitution An important measure that we are going to policy is subject to critical evaluation. But an take with this extra funding is that we are evaluation across the board had never pre- going to resume provenance research on viously been carried. The controversies that a structural basis. In concrete terms, this have occurred in recent years, regarding means that the Cultural Heritage Agency 1 25 JUNE 2021 JUNE 2021 – N°10 4 INTERVIEW NETHERLANDS will review all objects in the so called In addition, a new portal is now available NK-collection (this collection consists of to provide relevant information about the artworks with a past related to the Second National Art Collection and make it available World War) and determine whether there are to potential claimants and other interested any gaps in their history of provenance. We parties. In the next few years I will be expan- aim to complete this work within four years. ding that portal, for example by adding infor- New insights will doubtlessly emerge, thanks mation generated by the provenance research to information from recent studies, new tech- or about possibly looted objects from other nological developments and the opening up public collections. of hitherto unknown archives. The aim of this research is, of course, to enable us to return more works to their rightful owners. That is What does the future look like certainly the hope. For this reason, based on for Dutch restitution policy? the structural provenance research, we will also actively seek to trace and approach the Ideally, of course, restitution policy is tempo- original owners or their heirs, in the hope that rary. After all, our goal is to return all looted this will lead to new restitution requests. artworks to their rightful owners. But at the same time, we have to be realistic: there is a good chance that we will never fnd the original Will anything change for heirs or owners or their heirs of some artworks. So other interested parties? Who can I think it is important to start thinking now they contact if they have questions? about the future of these objects. The Council and the Kohnstamm Committee My starting point is that the Jewish community rightly concluded that the provision of infor- can claim all the remaining unclaimed looted mation and communication around restitu- art in the National Art Collection. That means tion policy could be improved. I am therefore artworks that originally belonged to Jewish going to take action in that area. owners but for which it has been concluded that no rightful claimants can be found. We For example, a helpdesk function will be will continue to look for the rightful owners in created that will become a permanent part of the meantime, but once the restitution policy the Cultural Heritage Agency and actively dis- comes to an end, I wish to act in line with the seminates knowledge. Potential claimants can Washington Principles on unclaimed looted contact them whenever they have questions art in a fair way. In the coming years, I am about policy and procedures, but also regar- going to develop the plans in further detail in ding how to conduct provenance research close partnership with the Jewish community. and where to look. Museums and institutions that manage collections can also contact them with their questions. https://wo2.collectienederland.nl JUNE 2021 – N°10 5 NEWS COLLECTION OF F.W. STAMMESHAUS, DISPLAYED IN HIS HOME IN SEULIMEUM (ACEH), 1912. PHOTO FROM THE STAMMESHAUS ARCHIVES, COURTESY OF JOHN KLEIN NAGELVOORT. JUNE 2021 – N°10 6 NEWS NETHERLANDS New research projects for NIOD’s Restitution Expertise Centre The primary task of the Restitution identify the specifc processes necessary for Expertise Centre (ECR), part of the Dutch carrying out provenance research on colonial Institute for War, Holocaust and Genoci- collec tions. Objects selected as cases for the de Studies (NIOD), is to conduct indepen- research were items which had come into dent investigations into facts relating to Dutch hands as a result of colonial conficts; individual restitution applications. The had been collected by colonial institutes; Expertise Centre also researches histori- came into Dutch hands through private col- cal and topical art looting and restitution, lectors and are now the property of the Dutch in particular with regard to the Nazi regi- State; were selected in consultation with the me. The ECR recently obtained a number Museum Nasional Indonesia in Jakarta and of grants for new research projects in this were selected following meetings with various feld. universities and museums in Sri Lanka. Pilot Project Provenance The aim of the project is to conduct Research on Objects of the joint scientific research on a number Colonial Era (PPROCE) of objects from Indonesia and Sri Lanka in order to identify the The Pilot Project Provenance Research on specific processes necessary for Objects of the Colonial Era (PPROCE) is a carrying out provenance research project of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, on colonial collections the National Museum of World Cultures and ECR/NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies that aims to develop a methodology for research on the prove- nance of collections with a colonial context. The results of the research will be written This project will determine and describe the up in a report for the Minister of Education, steps required for doing provenance research Culture and Science, with conclusions and on colonial collections. A number of selected recommendations for research on the prove- cases from Indonesia and Sri Lanka will be nance of objects from the colonial era.