Provenance Research:
Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg (Magdeburg Museum of Cultural History)
Museum
Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg (Magdeburg Museum of Cultural History); formerly the Kaiser Friedrich Museum
Research into Nazi-confiscated works of art in the museum's collection
The museum states that it has not found any indication that it acquired works of art looted under the Nazi regime.
Research into works of art missing from the museum
In the 1930s a number of works from the collection were confiscated as "Degenerate Art".
In 1945 most of the museum's pre-war collection was looted or destroyed when fire was set to its wartime storage at the Neustaßfurt salt mine. The museum's losses, in particular 338 of the 400 missing paintings, have been researched and published by the museum's curator Tobias von Elsner in 1995. The return of the Luther manuscript 'Wider Hans Wors t' (1541) to the museum in 1996 indicates that not all of the missing works were destroyed. Because of restricted funds, it is unlikely that the museum will be able to undertake further research in the future.
Contact Information
Tobias von Elsner (Curator)
Kulturhistorisches Museum
Otto-von-Guericke-Straße 68-73
39104 Magdeburg
Tel.: +49 (0)391 540 3501
Fax: +49(0)391 540 3510
Email: museen@magdeburg.de
www.khm-magdeburg.de
Sources
Central Registry Archives, Correspondence, 11 November 2002
Tobias von Elsner, Alles verbrannt? - Die verlorene Gemäldegalerie des Kaiser Friedrich Museums Magdeburg. Sammlungsverluste durch Kriegseinwirkungen und Folgeschäden (Did Everything Burn? The Lost Paintings of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Magdeburg. Wartime Losses of the Collection), Magdeburger Museumshefte 5, Magdeburg, 1995
Tobias von Elsner, ' The Return of the Luther Manuscript Wider Hans Worst (Against Hans Worst) to Germany', Spoils of War 2(1996), first accessed 19 September 2003. Link updated 17 July 2007.
Magdeburg Museum of Cultural History
<www.khm-magdeburg.de >, first accessed 16 July 2003. Link updated 17 July 2007.
