Holocaust provenance research

In the years before and during the Second World War, the Nazis systematically looted the property of Jewish people. Jews also lost or needed to sell works of art due to the difficult circumstances they found themselves in, as a result of destitution or having to flee their homes, for example. Some of these objects are still to be found in museums today.

We are conducting this provenance research into objects currently held in the Rijksmuseum collection to find out who the objects belonged to and where they were before they entered the museum. The Rijksmuseum furthermore believes it is important to conduct this research about people who were robbed of their possessions during the Nazi regime. These personal stories are part of the history of the Netherlands and therefore belong in the museum.

Photocredits: ANP. The removal of household goods from vacated homes of deported Jewish residents, transported by barge on the Lijnbaansgracht in Amsterdam, 1943.