Provenance Research :

(Focke Museum / Bremen State Museum for Art and Cultural History)

Museum
Focke-Museum / Bremer Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte (Focke Museum / Bremen State Museum for Art and Cultural History)

Research into Nazi-confiscated cultural property in the museum's collection
The Focke-Museum undertook research to identify Nazi-confiscated works that may have entered its collection between 1933 and 1945, with negative results. In a 1998 article by Bettina Schleier of the Bremen State Archive, 'Das Unzugsgut jüdischer Auswanderer - von der Enteignung zur Rückerstattung' ('Stored goods of Jewish Emigrants - from Dispossession to Restitution'), Dr Schleier notes that the property of Jewish emigrants which had been placed by them in storage were sold off from 1941 in public auctions, private individuals being the main buyers. The items were mainly 'scarce goods' at the time, but there were also valuable objects, including art and antiquities. The log book of the Finanzkasse (finance office) lists the Focke-Museum as the buyer of a baroque chest of drawers. The State Library of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen also appears as a buyer.

Research into cultural property missing from the museum
The museum's research indicates that it has suffered no loss to its collection due to "violence, theft or ideological purgation" between 1933 and 1945.

Contact Details
Dr. Alfred Löhr
Focke-Museum
Schwachhauser Heerstr. 240
28213 Bremen
Tel: +49 (0) 421 3613575
Fax: +49 (0) 421 3613903
Email: post@focke-museum.bremen.de
<http://www.bremen.de/info/focke/index.htm>

Source
Central Registry Archives, Correspondence, 31 October 2002

<http://www.bremen.de/info/focke/index.htm>, accessed 9 December 2002

Frau Dr Bettina Schleier 'Das Unzugsgut jüdischer Auswanderer - von der Enteignung zur Rückerstattung' ('Stored goods of Jewish Emigrants - from Dispossession to Restitution') in Bremisches Jahrbuch 77 (1998), pp 247-265