The challenge of cultural heritage?! Time is running out! Nazi-looted art, provenance research, and restitution
Past event
Thursday, November 23, 2023, 6:15 p.m.
Old University, Auditorium, Grabengasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg
Prof. Dr. Marcel Lepper, University of Leipzig, Institute for German Studies
In 1945, the Western Allies presented rules for the return of cultural property that had been unlawfully seized during the Nazi era. Until reunification in 1990, surprisingly little happened. After the “Washington Declaration” of 1998, major projects on provenance research began. The high level of research and funding led to many individual successes, but due to the complex federal structure of cultural and scientific policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, no clear timetable emerged. Research on Nazi-looted property is a prime example of how cultural heritage is inconceivable without social responsibility. The lecture looks back and ahead and asks: How were private and public property claims balanced?
Address Type
Neue Universität Series of events
Aula Talk
Grabengasse 3-5
69117 Heidelberg
All Dates of the Event 'Herausforderung Kulturerbe?!'
Engaging with cultural heritage (of humanity) is contemporary and socially relevant when bridges are built between the past, present, and future, and cultural heritage is understood as a dynamic concept. It acts as a transformative resource when it is used as an integral part of the examination of discourses on identity and power politics. Cultural heritage often proves to be controversial and part of larger social controversies.
In this series of events, the Flagship Initiative Transforming Cultural Heritage and the Heidelberg Center Cultural Heritage at Heidelberg University explore current issues relating to cultural heritage. Based on transformative, innovative research, the series takes up current and controversial, but socially relevant topics and discusses them with renowned speakers.
