The Munich Central Collecting Point was a depot used by the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program after the end of the Second World War to process, photograph and redistribute artwork and cultural artifacts that had been confiscated by the Nazis and hidden throughout Germany and Austria. [1] Other Central Collecting Points were located at Marburg, Wiesbaden and Offenbach, with the overall aim of giving restitution for the artifacts to their countries of origin. [1]
Lieutenant Craig Hugh Smyth was responsible for establishing the Munich Central Collecting Point in July 1945, converting former Nazi Party offices into a depot complete with photography studios and conservation labs. The depot's activities were directed by Herbert S. Leonard. [2]
The Munich Central Collecting Point mainly processed artwork from European museums and private collections, including Hitler's collection found at Altaussee. This included paintings, sculptures, metalwork and other objects. These restitution activities at Munich ceased in 1951. [1]
In 2016 investigative journalists at Suddeutsche Zeitung reported that Commission for Looted Art in Europe (CLAE), had discovered that "The Monuments Men tracked down Nazi looted art. Only for German museum directors to return it to the families of the Nazi leaders rather than to the Jewish families who were its rightful owners." [3]
Archives of materials relating to the Munich Central Collecting Point are located in two repositories in the USA. Original inventory records and photographs of works of art are held by the National Archives and Records Administration. There is a further archive of photographs, and microfilm copies of the inventory cards, in the Photographic Archives at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. [1]
Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol was a French sculptor, painter, and printmaker.
Nazi plunder was organized stealing of art and other items which occurred as a result of the organized looting of European countries during the time of the Nazi Party in Germany.
Looted art has been a consequence of looting during war, natural disaster and riot for centuries. Looting of art, archaeology and other cultural property may be an opportunistic criminal act or may be a more organized case of unlawful or unethical pillage by the victor of a conflict. The term "looted art" reflects bias, and whether particular art has been taken legally or illegally is often the subject of conflicting laws and subjective interpretations of governments and people; use of the term "looted art" in reference to a particular art object implies that the art was taken illegally.
Rescuing Da Vinci is a largely photographic, historical book about art reclamation and preservation during and after World War II, written by American author Robert M. Edsel, published in 2006 by Laurel Publishing.
The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section Unit (MFAA) was a program established by the Allies in 1943 to help protect cultural property in war areas during and after World War II. The group of about 400 service members and civilians worked with military forces to protect historic and cultural monuments from war damage, and as the conflict came to a close, to find and return works of art and other items of cultural importance that had been stolen by the Nazis or hidden for safekeeping. Spurred by the Roberts Commission, MFAA branches were established within the Civil Affairs and Military Government Sections of Allied armies.
The Führermuseum or Fuhrer-Museum, also referred to as the Linz art gallery, was an unrealized art museum within a cultural complex planned by Adolf Hitler for his hometown, the Austrian city of Linz, near his birthplace of Braunau. Its purpose was to display a selection of the art bought, confiscated or stolen by the Nazis from throughout Europe during World War II. The cultural district was to be part of an overall plan to recreate Linz, turning it into a cultural capital of Nazi Germany and one of the greatest art centers of Europe, overshadowing Vienna, for which Hitler had a personal distaste. He wanted to make the city more beautiful than Budapest, so it would be the most beautiful on the Danube River, as well as an industrial powerhouse and a hub of trade; the museum was planned to be one of the greatest in Europe.
The Bavarian State Painting Collections, based in Munich, Germany, oversees artwork held by the Free State of Bavaria. It was established in 1799 as Centralgemäldegaleriedirektion. Artwork includes paintings, sculptures, photographs, video art and installation art. Pieces are on display in numerous galleries and museums throughout Bavaria.
The Monuments Men and Women Foundation, formerly known as the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, is an American IRS-approved 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, which honors the legacy of those who served in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program during and after World War II, more commonly known as the Monuments Men and Women. Today, the foundation continues their mission by recovering Nazi looted artworks, documents, and other cultural objects and returning them to their rightful owners. Raising public awareness is essential to the foundation's mission of "Restitution, Education and Preservation".
The Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, is an independent art-historical research institute in Germany. The institute resides in the former administration building of the National Socialist party near Königsplatz in Munich.
Seymour Pomrenze was a Jewish-American archivist and records manager. He was the first director of the Offenbach Archival Depot, the primary Allied collection point for books and archival material looted by the Nazis.
The Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste, also known as the Koordinierungsstelle Magdeburg, is an institution of the German federal and state governments at the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Culture and is the central German institution for the documentation of lost and found cultural assets looted by the Nazis. Established in 2001, the Koordinierungsstelle's Lost Art Database documents and publishes lost and found reports by institutions and private individuals. It operates on a cooperative basis with the international Art Loss Register.
"The Spoils of War—World War II and Its Aftermath: The Loss, Reappearance, and Recovery of Cultural Property" was an international symposium held in New York City in 1995 to discuss the artworks, cultural property, and historic sites damaged, lost, and plundered as a result of World War II. The three-day event was sponsored by the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. The conference was organized by Elizabeth Simpson, an archaeologist and professor at the Bard Graduate Center.
The German Nazi Party looted and stole art, gold and other objects that had been either plundered or moved for safekeeping at various storage sites during World War II. These sites included salt mines at Altaussee and Merkers and a copper mine at Siegen.
Many priceless artworks by the Dutch post-impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh were looted by Nazis during 1933–1945, mostly from Jewish collectors forced into exile or murdered.
The Hermann Göring Collection, also known as the Kunstsammlung Hermann Göring, was an extensive private art collection of Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, formed for the most part by looting of Jewish property in Nazi-occupied areas between 1936 and 1945.
Adolf Weinmüller was a German art dealer and Nazi party member who trafficked in looted art and Aryanized the S. Kende auction house as well as Helbing. The catalogs of his auctions were published in 2014 for provenance research and restitution to victims.
Maria Almas-Dietrich, nee Dietrich was one of Hitler's most important art suppliers for his planned FührerMuseum in Linz.
Hermann Voss was a German art historian and museum director appointed by Hitler to acquire art, much of it looted by Nazis, for Hitler's planned Führermuseum in Linz, Austria.
The Marburg Central Collecting Point, also known as the Marburg Central Art Collecting Point, was the first art depot in Post-World War II Germany. It was established by the U.S. Office of Military Government in the university town of Marburg to collect art looted or evacuated from museums, libraries, archives, castles, etc. before and during World War II and return them to their rightful owners. The Collecting Point existed between May 1945 and mid-August 1946.
Concealed Histories: Uncovering the Story of Nazi Looting was an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London that ran from December 2019 until July 2021. It was the first Nazi-era provenance exhibition by a UK national museum.
The Commission for Looted Art in Europe (CLAE) is a London based NGO representing those who lost works of art during the Nazi era and negotiating policy initiatives with governments and museum across the world. During its research for the family which owned 'Hölländische Platzbild' , CLAE uncovered a scandal: art from the Collecting Points, where the US-army collected up Nazi art treasures, was passed on in trust to the German post-war authorities and those same art pieces were later returned or sold to high ranking Nazis, including Baldur von Schirach and Heinrich Hoffmann.