Title
Theodor
Brückler (ed.), Kunstraub, Kunstbergung und Restitution in Österreich 1938
bis Heute
(Wien: Böhlau Verlag, 1999) (Art Looting, Art Storage
and Restitution in Austria from 1938 until Today)
Description
A book published at the Federal Office of Historical Monuments
(Bundesdenkmalamt) by Univ. Prof. Ernst Bacher, President of the Austrian
Commission for Provenance Research and former Generalkonservator at the Federal
Office of Historical Monuments. Dr.Theodor Brückler, head archivist at the
Austrian Federal Office of Historical Monuments (Bundesdenkmalamt) is the editor
of the book.
As the title suggests, this is a very comprehensive volume divided into an essay and documentation section. The first three contributions in the essay section together provide a historical overview of confiscation, wartime storage and the post-war restitution debate and legislation in Austria until today, including the Mauerbach auction of 1996. The remaining two essays are case studies; one examines the role of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna) in the confiscation, wartime storage and restitution of art objects between 1938 and 1945, the other describes the "aryanisation" and post war restitution of the Rothschild art collection and property.
By far the greater part of the book is dedicated to a documentation, compiled
by Dr. Brückler, of the 'restitution materials' in the Archives of the Federal
Office of Historical Monuments. Brückler reproduces samples of the historical
documents in the archives and accompanies them with short texts which provide
context and interpretation. The documentation is divided into six thematic
categories and works like a guided tour of key documents in the archive.
A
sample of records from each category is listed below:
1. Confiscations (Beschlagnahmungen)
This section groups records which
document the manifold ways by which works of art and other property were
confiscated.
These Records
include:
2. Museums and the 'Linz' Collection (Museen und "Linzer
Sammlung")
This
section groups records on the "Führervorbehalt" and Linz collection, and records
which document the fierce competition between Austrian museums to secure
confiscated objects for their collections, their "wish lists" for objects stored
in the Central Depot at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna) and the post-war
attitudes of museums towards these works.
These Records include:
3. Storage Measures (Bergungsmaßnahmen)
This
section groups records that document the wartime storage of works of art in
Austria, incidents during the last days of the war (incl. the destruction of
works by German units), reports of post-war looting and destruction by locals
and occupation armies, efforts to recover collections, storage solutions for
confiscated collections. These Records include:
4. The Central Collecting Point in Munich (Zentralkunstdepot
München)
This
section groups records which document the removal of works of art from the
storage location at Altaussee to the Munich Collecting point administered by the
US Army, the deeply conflictual relation between the Collecting Point and
Austrian researchers sent to recover works, and the day-to-day research process.
These Records include:
5. Restitution (Restitutionen)
This section
groups documents on post-war discussions regarding title to confiscated works,
restitution between Austria and Germany, donations enforced from restituted
Jewish collections and contemporary attitudes, Czechoslovakian claims in Austria
and vice versa. These Records include:
6. The Monument Authority
(Denkmalbehörde)
This section groups records
documenting the on the activities of the Bundesdenkmalamt and its staff during
the Nazi period and immediate post-war period.
These
Records include:
The book also includes a short presentation of photographic resources in the archives and reproductions of the Austrian restitution legislation, a short inventory of the c. 110 boxes of restitution materials (as of January 2003, they are stored in 142 boxes) and an index of names and places mentioned in the text and in the historical documents reproduced in the documentation section.
Although the illustrated 'guided tour' and the overview of the inventory
together provide a very useful introduction and orientation for the material, it
would be desirable to also see a much more detailed systematic inventory list
and finding aid made available.
The Bundesdenkmalamt is currently
reorganising its archives and indicates that the restitution materials are now
stored in 142 boxes.
Content List (in German)
Vorwort Ernst Bacher
I. Beiträge
Brückler, Theodor: Kunstwerke zwischen Kunstraub und
Kunstbergung: 1938 - 1945
Sailer, Gerhard: Rückbringung und Rückgabe: 1945 -
1966
Haslinger, Kurt: Mauerbach und der lange Weg bis zur Auktion: 1966 -
1996
Haupt, Herbert : Die Rolle des Kunsthistorischen Museums bei der
Beschlagnahme, Bergung und Rückführung von Kunstgut in den Jahren
1938-1945
Hermann-Jelinek, Felicitas, Von Arisierungen und Restitutierungen:
Zum Schicksal der Rothschild'schen Kunst- und sonstigen Besitztümer in Wien
II. Quellendokumentation. Ausgewählt, bearbeitet und kommentiert von Theodor
Brückler
Vorbemerkung
1. Beschlagnahmungen
2. Museen und "Linzer
Sammlung"
3. Bergungsmaßnahmen
4. Zentralkunstdepot München
5.
Restitutionen
6. Denkmalbehörde
III. Bildteil. Augewählt und bearbeitet von Bernadette Reinhold
IV. Gesetzestexte
1 Restitutionsgesetz
2. Kunst-und
Kulturbereinigungsgesetze
3. "Mauerbach-Gesetz"
V. Kurzinventar der im Archiv des Bundesdenkmalamtes (Wien) archivierten Restitutionsmaterialien (110 Kartons). Erstellt von Theodor Brückler
VI. Register. Erstellt von Bernadette
Reinhold
1. Personen
2. Orte
Autorenverzeichnis
Source
Theodor
Brückler (ed.), Kunstraub, Kunstbergung und Restitution in Österreich 1938
bis Heute
(Wien: Böhlau Verlag, 1999) (Art Looting, Art Storage
and Restitution in Austria from 1938 until Today)