Works of Art
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Biography
The Munich Central Collecting Point was established to accommodate repositories of Nazi-confiscated works of art and other cultural objects, hidden throughout Germany and Austria, which were discovered by the Allies at the close of World War II. At the Central Collecting Points of Marburg, Wiesbaden, Munich, and the Offenbach Archival Depot, objects were identified, photographed, and restituted to their countries of origin. The works of art that passed through the Munich Central Collecting Point originated from many European museums and from private collections, a large percentage of which were French and Dutch. The recovered objects comprised a wide variety of media, from painting and sculpture to textiles and metalwork. The Munich Central Collecting Point ceased its restitution activities in 1951.
Records of the Munich Central Collecting Point are currently housed in two repositories. The U.S. National Archives retains original textual records, including the inventory card file of all works of art processed through Munich, and photographs of restitution activities at the Collecting Point (Record Group 260). The National Gallery of Art Photographic Archives holds a microfilm copy of the inventory card file and existing negatives of the works of art, on extended loan to the Gallery from the National Archives.
Bibliography
- 1988
- Smyth, Craig Hugh. Repatriation of Art from the Collection Point in Munich after World War II. The Hague, 1988
- 1994
- Nicholas, Lynn H. The Rape of Europa. New York, 1994.
- 1997
- Simpson, Elizabeth, ed. The Spoils of War: World War II and Its Aftermath: The Loss, Reappearance, and Recovery of Cultural Property. New York, 1997.