The workshop will be conducted by the provenance researchers Małgorzata A. Quinkenstein and Nathalie Neumann.
The workshop focuses on orphaned property in areas of Europe under dictatorial occupation during the period from 1933 to 1949. Three distinct phases have been identified, each characterized by different involved parties and patterns of behavior:
1933–1939 Systematic expropriation of Jewish property in Germany and Austria
1939–1945 Systematic expropriation, spontaneous looting, and random destruction in the occupied territories
1945–1949 Appropriation, seizure, looting, and destruction
The workshop will discuss the following questions:
- Through which processes was the category of “private property” dissolved during the Nazi regime?
- What forms of discourse accompanied the appropriation of orphaned property in the paradigm between need and greed?
- How do the ties of the new property holders to the orphaned properties affect their social networks in time and space?
Individual presentations should consider the following aspects:
- What initial historical situations led to the change in possession?
- How do subsequent generations reflect upon their inheritance of orphaned property?
- How can this reflection be made public?
- What forms of cooperation exist between the current owners of orphaned property and involved parties from science and institutions?
- What political opportunities could help clarify the process of appropriation of orphaned property by private persons?
- Practice-oriented results that helped resolve the status of orphaned property
The workshop is an event organized by the Rose Valland Institute in the context of documenta 14 in Kassel.
If you are interested in taking part in the workshop, please email an abstract (max. length: 1,800 characters) in English as well as a short CV to Valentina Ehnimb no later than May 5, 2017: valentina.ehnimb [at] rosevallandinstitut.org. Based on the submitted abstracts, selected participants will be invited to present lectures. The lectures will be discussed at the workshop together with Małgorzata A. Quinkenstein, Nathalie Neumann, and invited experts.