Lecture: “The Burden of Proof. How Neglect, Ineptness and Anti-Semitism Shaped Art Restitution Policies in Post-War Austria”
at Genealogy of Amnesia Symposium, November 8-10, 2018 (mumok, Vienna/Austria)
The Mauerbach Collection comprised of about 8,000 individual objects of unknown origin dating from the Holocaust era. Austria did little to identify the rightful owners of these works, responding to restitution too late, too slowly and only under international media pressure. Austria did not inspect the records of its state institutions which documented the systematic removal of artworks from Austrian homes, and instead declared restitution a matter of private rather than public concern.
Sophie Lillie is an independent scholar specializing in the field of pre-war private collecting and patronage in Vienna.
Date: 9/11/2018
Place: mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (Austria)
Filming: Valerija Zabret
Editing: Marina Gržinić, Valerija Zabret