Report objects

Private individuals and institutions in Germany and abroad can publish a Search Request for cultural property that was taken from them as a result of Nazi persecution or lost during the Second World War. Cultural property that has either been clearly identified as Nazi-looted cultural property or is suspected as such due to provenance gaps or other indications can be reported as Found Objects. Likewise, objects that have been identified as ”wartime losses” of the Second World War or are suspected as such can be reported as found.

Reports are published only on behalf of and with the consent of the reporting persons and institutions. In the event of information regarding the reports or the identification of objects, the German Lost Art Foundation will establish contact between the parties involved.

Principles of registration and deletion

The registration, modification and deletion of reports in the Lost Art Database is carried out according to uniform and transparent principles.  Public institutions follow the instructions. Search Requests and Found-Object Reports are based only on the information provided by the reporter. The responsibility for the content of the requests and reports lies with the respective requesting or reporting legal or natural persons. The documentation in the Lost Art Database serves to create transparency and has no effect on the ownership, the right of disposal or the existence of other legal entitlements, neither in favor of nor to the detriment of the respective reporting institution or private individual as well as other third parties.

The Lost Art Team does not conduct its own research on the Search Requests and Found-Object Reports. Within the scope of its possibilities, it merely checks whether the information provided by the reporter is plausible. If the plausibility is substantially questioned by third parties, the request or report is marked as "disputed". The documentation of a cultural object in the Lost Art Database does not imply that it is actually cultural property that was seized as a result of Nazi persecution or that was removed or lost as a result of the Second World War. At the request of private individuals, their name will not be published with the report and the Foundation will be named as the contact instead.

 

General principles for the registration and deletion of reports

Return of the holdings of the Green Vault Dresden, 1958