Provenance Research :

Theodor-Fontane-Archiv 

Title
Theodor-Fontane-Archiv (Theodor Fontane Archive)

Research into Nazi-confiscated cultural property in the Archive's collection
The Archive affirms that there are no items that would have been confiscated or looted from Jewish collections.

Research into cultural property missing from the Archive
The Archive is dedicated to the study and documentation of the life and work of writer Theodor Fontane (1819-1898). It states that approximately 75% of its holdings are presumed to have been looted from storage or destroyed in the last months of the Second World War. The precise circumstances remain unclear. The Archive was built up again after the war and after 1958 a small part of the original (pre-1945) stock was bought back.

From the original (pre-1945) stock 900 original letters, 3,000 drafts and manuscript pages (prose), 260 drafts and manuscript pages (poems), 250 publications, including 40 volumes form Fontane's personal library as well as 60 art objects remain missing. In 1999 the Archive published comprehensive documentation that provides some background information and lists the items missing from its collections. It can be obtained from the Archive (in German).

A copy is available at the Central Registry for consultation.

Contact Information
Dr. Hanna Delf von Wolzogen
Theodor-Fontane-Archiv
Postfach 60 15 45
14415 Potsdam
Tel: +49 (0) 331 201 39 6
Fax: +49 (0) 331 201 39 70
Email: wolzo@rz.uni-potsdam.de
http://www.fontanearchiv.de/start.htm

Source
Central Registry Archives, Correspondence, 22 October, 26 November 2002

Manfred Horlitz (ed.), Vermißte Bestände des Theodor-Fontane-Archivs: Eine Dokumentation im Auftrag des Theodor-Fontane-Archivs, Potsdam: Theodor-Fontane-Archiv, 1999