ART RESTITUTION

The Art Restitution Law of 1998 provided the National Fund with a legal mandate to monetize “heirless” art and cultural objects from the museums and collections owned by the Republic of Austria and use the proceeds to benefit the victims of Nazism.

In 2006 an art database was set up to help victims of Nazi art theft and their descendants conduct a targeted search for looted art. The database contains information on 9,400 objects held by twenty cooperating partners, including federal and provincial museums and universities.

The National Fund also provides assistance to provenance researchers from museums and collections and helps them to trace legal successors and establish contacts with Austrian institutions.

If, despite intensive research, the rightful heirs to art and cultural objects cannot be found, the items are transferred to the National Fund to be monetized. Ten thousand books from the National Library and numerous art objects from various collections have been monetized in this way. The proceeds raised are used for programmes benefitting the victims of National Socialism.

Provenance researcher Dr. Michael Wladika (left) and municipal councillor Dr. Andreas Mailath-Pokorny present the restituted painting “The Love Letter” by Johann Nepomuk Schödlberger to Secretary General Hannah Lessing, who returned the picture to the heirs in person in Israel in 2009.

Top: Albin Egger-Lienz, Two Reapers (Three Mowers), Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinandeum, 1921/23

Bottom left: Didi Sattmann. Bottom right: Christa Knott/Vienna Museum for Folk Life and Folk Art, Joseph Krpelan/www.derknopfdrucker.com

Left: Sledge figurehead from the Vienna Museum for Folk Life and Folk Art in the art database (questionable status still to be clarified). Right: Signing an agreement with the University of Vienna, with which the University transferred “heirless” art objects and books to the National Fund in 2017 and repurchased them.

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VICTIM RECOGNITION

The National Fund was established in 1995 at the Austrian Parliament to express Austria's special responsibility towards all victims of National Socialism. As such, it is aimed at all survivors, regardless of why they were persecuted – whether on political grounds, on...

PROJECT FUNDING

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CLAIMS COMMITTEE COMPENSATION OF ASSETS

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THE ARBITRATION PANEL FOR IN REM RESTITUTION

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The historical research carried out at the General Settlement Fund formed an indispensable basis for the legal processing of the applications. In order to ensure the equal treatment of all applicants, care was taken to ensure that the same, in part very extensive,...

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APPLICANTS

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COMPENSATION OF ASSETS

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THE PROCEEDINGS

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PROCEDURAL STATISTICS

The General Settlement Fund received 20,702 applications for compensation of asset losses. They related to the asset losses incurred by 37,623 persons. Compensation was awarded for 18,155 applications; 2,547 applications did not meet the requirements for compensation....

WASHINGTON AGREEMENT 2001

On 17 January 2001 representatives of the Republic of Austria, the United States of America and Nazi victims’ organisations signed the “Joint Statement” in Washington DC. This formed the basis for the “Agreement between the Austrian Federal Government and the...