Robbery, trading and loot. The ‘Special order Linz’ in its European dimensions

• Applicant: Dr. Tatiana Timofeeva
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 530565468

The Linz Art Museum, planned by Adolf Hitler in 1938, was one of the most important institutions for the propaganda and cultural policies of the Third Reich. These events have not yet been adequately researched. This is mainly due to the fact that there is no complete collection of sources on the Linz Museum. This, in turn, was a consequence of the Soviet occupation policy after 1945, during which large quantities of cultural assets and files were transferred to Russia, including the holdings of the 'Linz Special Mission', which until 1945 were located at Schloss Weesenstein in Saxony and whose existence was only known through rumours until recently. The applicant was able to identify this collection and, together with other former project partners, to fully digitise and secure it. It consists of some 75 volumes of files or boxes containing several tens of thousands of pages, which appear to contain all correspondence from the German authorities relating to the Linz collection and Linz catalogues, as well as the photo library. The hard drive with all the digitised data was handed over to the applicant on 21 February 2022 in accordance with the cooperation agreement with the Russian Military Archives. The aim of the project is to make these sources permanently available to researchers, to process them scientifically and to make them digitally accessible. In addition, the files will be used for the first comprehensive historiographical description of the Linz collection. At the centre of the research project is object-based provenance research, as established internationally since the Washington Conference in 1998. One focus is on identifying and further researching the structures and key players in the multi-million-dollar business of Nazi art theft. At the centre of the research project is therefore an investigation into the conception and implementation of Nazi art theft, illustrated by the central example of the 'Linz Special Mission', which can be comprehensively researched for the first time with the help of the new sources. This also includes the way in which the SMAD organs dealt with museum collections. It also sheds light on the demands and self-image of the Russian victorious power in dealing with the loot. The minimum goal would be to create an electronic inventory with search functions and information on which documents are also stored in Germany as copies or originals, and to make them available to scholars and, if possible, the interested public. It would be even better if they could be included in an appropriately curated historical repository. Two articles, attendance at four to five conferences, mainly in German-speaking countries, and two internal presentations at the Viadrina should be planned.

• DFG Programme: WBP Position