May 2000 - Nr. 5
German Government Launches Web Site to Facilitate
Return
of Looted Art
TWIG - The German government is using new technology to redress an old injustice. On Monday (April 10), the government-sponsored web site www.LostArt.de went on-line to help the ongoing effort to return artworks stolen by the Nazi regime to their rightful owners or the owners’ heirs. The central element of the site is a list of 2,200 objects recovered by Allied troops at the close of the war whose owners could not be identified or located. "The effort for justice for the victims must never be neglected," State Minister for Cultural and Media Affairs Michael Naumann noted in announcing the launch of the new site.
During the Nazi era, artworks looted from across Europe were recorded on the so-called Linz list, named for the Austrian town where Adolf Hitler lived in his youth. Hitler had hoped one day to establish a grand Fuehrermuseum in Linz where the plundered works could be exhibited. The Federal Republic has made a concerted effort to return the works on the list over the years, Naumann noted, but more still needs to be done to restore artworks to their rightful owners.
Each of Germany’s sixteen states is to contribute to the lost art web site by posting a list of works that have been missing since the war. Detailed descriptions of about 36,000 works have already been compiled through the government project, which is run by a coordinating office in Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt). Project organizers hope the list will help put a stop to the illegal sale of art stolen during the Nazi era.
