Looted Art

The exhibition Looted Art presents the theme of the confiscation of Jewish property in the territory of the former Czechoslovakia during the Second World War. The Nazis forced members of the Jewish community to participate in the registration and distribution of Jewish property. The stolen property - including unique artworks - was confiscated by the Nazis. 

In this exhibition, a team of Czech historians present how the confiscation took place, which artworks remained in Czechoslovakia and which were transported to Germany. The exhibition includes the stories of prominent Czech Jewish businessmen and art collectors whose property was confiscated. Historians also tell the stories of the descendants of Jewish families who, after decades of legal disputes, finally saw at least some of the confiscated art objects returned.

Below this text you will find my interview with historian Jana Jirasková - leader of team of historians, who created this exhibition.

The exhibition may include an accompanying programme of lectures by the historians - the authors of the exhibition. The exhibition was prepared by a team of experts from The Documentation Centre for Property Transfers of the Cultural Assets of WWII Victims. 

Exhibition information: 15 roll-up panels, dimensions 80 x 200 cm. The exhibition is available in English or German version. The exhibition is free of charge from autumn 2025.

INTERVIEW ABOUT LOOTED ART

The Nazi Germans also bought toys, bed lines and underwear from Jewish property warehouses

Text: Judita Matyášová

Interview published on 18. 4. 2024 on Czech website Reporter

To sign over all the property, hand over the keys to the apartment and go to the transport. This was the procedure for Jews who were summoned for deportation during the war. A few hours after their departure, members of the Jewish community checked the property in the apartments and took the belongings to special warehouses. Jana Jirásková, director of the Centre for Documentation of Property Transfers of Cultural Property of the Victims of World War II, explains what happened to the property and how the search for the original owners was conducted. She participated in the preparation of the travelling exhibition, which is on display in Brno's Villa Löw-Beer.

Your centre has been operating since 2001, but only in recent years has it been opened to the public. Why?

Until 2011, we were part of Czech Academy of Sciences. Researchers presented information about confiscated property mainly within the academic community. Since last year, we have been trying to introduce the topic to the general public. For example, we give lectures in libraries or organize exhibitions where people can learn about what happened to Jewish property confiscated during World War II. In this way, they can realise that perhaps their ancestors had some valuable items that were confiscated by the Nazis and they could ask for restitution.

The confiscation of property took place in several stages. What did you find out about them?

The Nazis didn't use the word "confiscation" at all. For them, it was "incorporation into Nazi property". In the first phase, which lasted from 1939 until about March 1940, Jews had to declare valuables such as precious metal objects, gems and pearls, or works of art worth more than 10,000 crowns. These items were later to be deposited in branches of selected Czech banks throughout the Protectorate.

But the situation changed in October 1941, when the first mass transport left. What was the next development?

A few days before the departure of this transport, the Treuhandstelle organization was founded within the Jewish Religious Community in Prague. The Nazis forced the Jews to participate in the registration, sorting and administration of confiscated property. Before deportation, each Jew had to hand in a detailed property declaration, listing, for example, beds or chairs, but also small items such as cutlery or jars. A day or two after the deportees had left the apartment, Treuhandstelle workers came to the household. They checked that everything matched the asset declaration. The artwork was appraised by an expert. They then had to sort through all the property, pack it up and take it to specialised warehouses. Afterwards, the items were often used to furnish the households of Nazi Germans.

On your website you can find an interactive map of these warehouses in the centre of Prague. What was in them?

Initially, the Treuhandstelle had two warehouses, but the number increased rapidly as more deportees were deported and more space was needed for the confiscated property. For example, in today's Roxy Club in Dlouhá Street near Old Town Square, there was a warehouse for books, furniture, men's dressing gowns and suitcases, and a nearby warehouse for jars or blankets. At the end of the year the property was distributed to more than fifty warehouses all over Prague. There was also a special storage area for art objects, which were sorted according to their value.

What happened to those?

The Treuhandstelle had to offer the very valuable ones to the commissioner of Hitler himself, who wanted to build an art collection in Linz. Medium-valued objects went to the offices of Nazi organizations and institutions or later to Protectorate museums and galleries, and the least valuable were freely available for sale to Nazi Germans who moved into the apartments of deportees.

I guess they could buy those item for a very low prices…

Absolutely. Period documents talk about "moderate prices". We have found records of new residents buying not only furniture, but also jars or bedding. In a way, I find it "fascinating" that the Nazis considered the Jews to be a parasitic race, but they didn't mind picking up underwear or toys left behind by Jews in those warehouses. I could understand why someone would buy fur coats or paintings on the cheap, but toys?

Your organisation's team is primarily dedicated to tracing and identifying seized property. What helps you in your search for the original owner?

It is often a very challenging process, because although the items had a transport number, so you knew who they originally belonged to, these identifying marks have often not survived the ravages of time. In addition, the Treuhandstelle staff had to shred a huge amount of documentation. There is a record of 60 tons of paper being destroyed. We did find post-war statements from a few ordinary Treuhandstelle employees, but most of them were deported straight to Auschwitz at the end of 1944 because they were inconvenient witnesses for the Nazis. Our main activity, therefore, is to go through the records of museums and galleries in the Czech Republic and to follow those "crisis" years.

What do you do with the records then?

We compare them with others we find in various archives. Some items from the possessions of the deportees ended up in important Protectorate institutions, such as the National Gallery or the Museum of Decorative Arts, as deposits from the Nazi's property. This was the work of Karl Maria Swoboda, who served as administrator of the Nazi's art property. Thus, it is possible to find evidence that they came from the Treuhandstelle warehouses.

Is there any other way to identify the objects?

Fortunately, post-war documentation by the National Property Administration has survived. They recorded the property of deportees and persecuted people. Some of the survivors did return to their homes after the war, but their main concern was where they would live or whether they would stay in Czechoslovakia at all. There were strangers living in their apartments or houses, so the survivors had little else to worry about at the time than applying for restitution of their property. After 1948, things got complicated again. Some of the art objects remained in state museums or galleries, while others found their way into the furnishings of castles and chateaus across the country.

Who most often contacts you for help with restitution?

Most of them are descendants of Jewish families living abroad. According to Czech legislation, only the direct line can apply, that is, children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Some families have tried for decades to have their property returned to them, but for a long time it was impossible precisely because of the lack of evidence. At the beginning of last year, we managed to close one very complicated case. It was about so-called gifts for export.

What was it about?

In 1939, Jews could travel, but they had to donate valuable items to Nazi organisations or institutions. So it was not a donation in the sense that we understand it today. We have managed to trace information to one family who came from Brno and had to "donate" paintings and other valuables. The great-granddaughters came from America and met the Minister of Culture in Prague. After many years, they received their property back. They were not concerned about the value of particular works of art, but rather about getting the things back to their family. They then sent us a photo of the paintings hanging in their living room.

At the current exhibition in Brno you explain the whole mechanism of confiscation of property. How do people react when they find out what happened?

We have given lectures at branches of city libraries and other institutions all over the Czech Republic. Most of the time people are surprised when we describe that the confiscation had to be done by people from the Jewish community because the Nazis forced them to do it. When we talk about the fact that there are still art objects from Jewish families in the depositories of museums and galleries, people don't understand why the property is not being returned. It's just that connecting the families of the original owners and the objects is not easy because of the lack of documentation, and often there is simply no one to return the property to. At our website, we continuously update our database of identified items. However, it is not possible to identify the specific owner of all of them.

How can descendants prove what belonged to them before the war?

Some systematically search for information about the whole family. For example, they search for photographs of the family villa or the factory their ancestors owned. If there is a photo of the interior where there are art objects, then this can be used as a basis for a restitution claim. But paper records are also needed, for example a record that objects from a particular person's property were handed over by the Gestapo to an institution. But sometimes these are really coincidences.

Like what?

We are working with experts at Sychrov Castle, which was the place where after the war the property of deportees from the entire Protectorate was taken. In 2019, we had an exhibition about our activities at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, where there was an Empire chair from the estate of Karel Hartmann. After the exhibition, we read the visitors' book and two entries caught our eye. One was, "We are so glad we saw the chair from my great-grandfather's estate", the other was written in French. We tracked down the author of the entry. He said he had relatives all over the world, so he didn't want to apply for restitution. They're not going to take turns for the same seat.

And how do the directors of museums and galleries react when you tell them that they have confiscated property in the depository?

Most often we deal with the heads of the National Gallery and the Museum of Decorative Arts. They are very helpful because they understand that what has been stolen should be returned. However, sometimes I try to arrange a new collaboration in a collecting institution. And I perceive that they are afraid if we come there with a truck to take away what they have in their collections. But it doesn't work that way. We do research and we help the descendants of the original owners if they contact us. If they decide to apply for restitution, it's entirely up to them.

Jana Jirásková

She studied history and religious studies at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. She has been working at the Centre for Documentation of Property Transfers of Cultural Property of World War II Victims since 2013 and focuses on the mechanisms of confiscation and restitution of property of World War II victims. She has been the director of this institution since 2023.