The German Lost Art Foundation invites you to its spring conference:

“1945 - The struggle over art. Cultural property between loss, relocation and restitution“

on 31 March and 1 April 2025 at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Humboldt-Saal, Unter den Linden 8, 10117 Berlin)

Please note: The conference language is English (no translation).

Marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the conference is dedicated to the millions of works of art and items of cultural property that were lost as a result of Nazi rule and the war in Europe. 

Some 25 speakers at this international event will shed light on efforts to return the looted property of persecuted Jews in Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic immediately after the war. The researchers also look at German and French museum collections that were relocated to protect them from destruction. The conference will not only focus on the restitution of Nazi-looted property and compensation but also on those items of cultural property that were never returned – because they were destroyed or went missing, for example, or else were retained by the Soviet Union as compensation for its own losses.

After a phase of intense dialogue following the fall of the Berlin Wall, negotiations on the repatriation of artworks with Russia are currently on hold. Debate on the issue is ongoing, however, and new questions are being raised: what role can AI play in reconstruction, how do we focus on the theme of wartime losses in museum practice?

To conclude, a panel of high-calibre experts will discuss the problems involved in the restitution of wartime losses and Nazi-looted property that continue to apply today, decades after 1945.

The German Lost Art Foundation looks forward to welcoming you at the conference and would ask you to sign up by 17 March 2025 at: https://kulturgutverluste.de/conference2025

Admission is free of charge.

You can also follow the conference live on our YouTube channel. Sign-up is not required for this purpose. The link will be posted on kulturgutverluste.de shortly prior to the conference. A recording of the entire conference will be available afterwards at https://kulturgutverluste.de. 

If you have any questions, please contact Heinrich Natho, contact person for events at the German Lost Art Foundation, on +49 391/727 763-23 or conference(at)kulturgutverluste.de

Publication:

In preparation for the conference, the Foundation dedicates its current issue of the periodical Provenienz & Forschung to the topic “1945” (in German language). The book can be ordered from Sandstein Verlag at https://verlag.sandstein.de/detailview?no=98-842 or online and free of charge in open access on the publication platform of the Max Weber Foundation perspectivia.net: https://doi.org/10.25360/01-2024-00010