Re-imagining communities through cultural property restitition: the Austrian, Italian and (West) German cases, 1945-1998

• Applicant: Bianca Gaudenzi, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2018 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 388532666

This project analyses the process of restitution of looted cultural property in post-war Austria, Italy and (West) Germany from the end of the Second World War to the signing of the "Washington Declaration on Nazi-confiscated Art" in 1998. Conceived as a social history of restitution in the context of Cold War and post-1989 Europe, the project investigates the impact of restitution on local, national and European identities and its relevance in the process of acceptance or dismissal of these three countries' fascist past. Arguing that the restitution of cultural property played a central role in these three post-fascist countries' quest to refashion their identities, this project sets out to test to what extent restitution practices constituted a key component of the process of nation building between 1945 and 1998. In particular, what will be under investigation is the interplay between public discourses of restitution, present especially in political speeches, parliamentary debates and the press, and everyday restitution practices followed by restitution committees, judicial or financial institutions and museums. The project will be conducted through the examination of six case studies - 3 public and 3 private Jewish collections - along the theories of histoire croisée and 'entangled history'. Four main types of sources will be examined through discourse and content analysis: 1) official documents relating to restitution debates and legislation 2) press articles 3) exhibition and auction catalogues 4) private papers, correspondence, memoirs. The project will thereby combine a focus on local communities and actors - including politicians, journalists, museum curators, rightful owners - with a thorough analysis of identity politics at local and national levels. There are several benefits to adopting a transnational approach. It allows to 1) examine how national processes of restitution were embedded in broader transnational discourses and praxis; 2) compare the way the process of Vergangenheitsbewältigung evolved in all three countries and assess what concepts of culture - local, national or European - were conducive to each country's attempt to distance itself from its fascist past; 3) detect trajectories of interaction and common turning points among the three countries; 4) test how transnational entanglements between the countries in question and the activities of transnational Jewish restitution agencies affected the process of restitution of Jewish property over time, and why; 5) highlight tangible continuities with the interwar and WWII years in terms of personnel, practices and legislation and their impact on postwar approaches. By assessing the extent to which restitution processes actually fed into broader attempts to (re)-construct national and European identities, the project will provide the first transnational examination of the political role of cultural property restitution in the context of post-fascist and post-1989 Europe

• DFG Programme: Research Grants