Other Resources

These resources provide information that are helpful to claimants and those researching Nazi looted art.

Austria
The Holocaust Victims' Information and Support Center (HVISC)
The HVISC in Vienna represents Jewish Nazi victims and their heirs. The HVISC has access to a comprehensive database of 111,000 people and 7,500 files of the Mauerbach Fund as well as internal material from the Archive of the Jewish Community in Vienna. A research checklist and list of relevant databases can be accessed from the website.

France
The Commission for the Compensation of Victims of Spoliation (Commission pour l'Indemnisation des Victimes de Spoliations), CIVS
CIVS, or The Commission for the Compensation of Victims of Spoliation Resulting From Anti-Semitic Legislation in Force During the Occupation was set up in 1999 by the French Prime Minister. The Commission has three primary roles:

• Inform victims of loss and their families of what became of their confiscated assets
• Examine and process claims
• Decide on appropriate reparation, restitution or compensation

There are many useful documents that can be downloaded from this site, including claim forms, activity updates, leaftlets explaining the purpose of the CIVS and regulatory texts and reports.

Germany
Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste (Coordination Office for Lost Cultural Assets)
The Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste is Germany's central and public office for the documentation of lost cultural property. In addition to its database of looted objects, it provides a discussion forum and related links.

Israel
Yad Vashem: Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority
Yad Vashem is the documentation centre for the history of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. It works to preserve the memories of the six million victims and impart the legacy of the Holocaust for future generations. Yad Vashem?s archive collection contains the most comprehensive repository of material on the Holocaust in the world, and comprises of 62 million pages of documents, nearly 267,500 photographs, and thousands of films and videotaped testimonies of survivors.

The Netherlands
The Advisory Committee for Restitution Applications for Items of Cultural Value and the Second World War (Restitutions Committee)
The Restitutions Committee was set up towards the end of 2001 by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Since then, the committee has given independent advice to the State Secretary of Culture about individual applications for the restitution of items of cultural value that disappeared during the Second World War. This concerns claims to artworks which the owner involuntarily lost possession of due to circumstances directly related to the Nazi regime. The website includes both summaries and full descriptions of their recommendations as well as annual reports.

Russia
All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature (Vserossiiskaya Gosudarstvennaya Biblioteka Inostrannoi Literatura - VGBIL)
The VGBIL is a cultural research centre. In addition to listing books transferred by the Soviet Trophy Brigade, there is a reference section on cultural property looted during World War II. This includes relevant laws, a searchable bibliography, and related organisations. Most of the website is in Russian.

United Kingdom
Spoliation Advisory Panel
The Spoliation Advisory Panel was set up in April 2000 by the UK Department of Culture Media and Sport to help resolve claims from people - or their heirs - who lost cultural property during the Nazi era which is now held by UK national collections. Reports of the panel?s decisions are published on their website.

USA
Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference)
The Claims Conference works to secure compensation and restitution for survivors of the Holocaust and the heirs of victims. The Claims Conference and the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) have begun a Looted Jewish Art and Cultural Property Initiative towards the restitution of Jewish-owned art and cultural property lost and plundered during the Holocaust.

The Getty Research Institute
The Getty Research Institute houses important archives for provenance research. An online guide to Holocaust-Era Research Resources contains several records on Holocaust-era looting and postwar dissemination of stolen art. Information about the follwoing records can be accessed online:

• Douglas Cooper Papers: Cooper was an MFA&A officer and the papers contain war related correspondence and reports.
• Fine Arts (Special Services). Dutch Restitution Committee Detailed Interrogation Report: A report on the activities of the Dienststelle Mühlmann, the group led by Kajetan Mühlmann, which was responsible for obtaining works of art for Hitler, Göring, and other Nazi officials.
• Ardelia Hall records (microform of NARA holdings): Microfilm copy of the front face of over 50,000 property cards created for the allied Central Collecting Point in Munich. Each card records data for an individual art object, such as medium, subject, size, condition, identifying marks, description, and presumed owner; some cards are illustrated with a small photograph.
• Felbermeyer photos for the Allied Central Collecting Point, Munich, ca. 1945-ca. 1949: Photographs taken by Johannes Felbermeyer for the allied Central Collecting Point in Munich which document the process of repatriation of works of art after World War II.

The National Archives and Record Administration of the United States (NARA)
The National Archives and Record Administration of the United States (NARA) website has a section devoted to Holocaust Era Assets. They have substantial original records relating to the looting, locating, recovering, and restitution of Holocaust-Era assets. The website lists finding aids, Allied reports and other valuable information.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)
The USHMM in Washington D.C. is the national memorial and research institute for the Holocaust. The website contains a section dedicated to Holocaust Era Assets.