Provenance research on the years 1933 to 1945

As part of a research project in 2002, the cultural anthropologist and historian Hans Voges wrote a report on the development of anthropology (Völkerkunde) in Frankfurt between 1933 and 1945. Among other things, the report critically examines the museum’s staff at the time and their attitudes towards Nazi ideology. The income and expenditure of the then ‘Völkermuseum’ between 1933 and 1944 were compared with those of previous decades, and the roles of the various municipal museums were analysed. The aim was to trace the development of museum practice under National Socialism and to identify patterns of influence. 

A particular focus of the research was on acquisitions made in the German-occupied territories of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Between 1941 and 1943, museum staff travelled to neighbouring European countries on behalf of the City of Frankfurt. Using a special budget, over 1,000 cultural artefacts were acquired on the art market on favourable terms. In many cases, the transport of the objects to Frankfurt was supported by the Wehrmacht. From today’s perspective, this practice of acquisition raises legal and moral questions – it is possible that people’s desperate circumstances were exploited, art dealers were put under pressure, and Jewish former owners were dispossessed. After the war, these acquisitions were classified as “unlawful” by the American provisional government. In 1947, the museum therefore handed over 37 objects to a collection centre in Wiesbaden so that they could be returned to France, the Netherlands and Belgium. According to the museum’s statement in 1947, all other objects purchased abroad had been damaged or lost during the war.

Today, however, it can be proven that 384 objects from this collection are still held in the Weltkulturen Museum’s collections – including pieces from the collection of Maurice de Rothschild, a French Jewish politician. Together with international partners, the Weltkulturen Museum is currently developing a research project on this subject. It is intended to build on the findings of Hans Voges and shed light on the surviving objects from the described purchases abroad and their complex provenance. In addition, the entire spectrum of the museum’s activities between 1933 and 1945 is to be examined for any contexts of injustice.