Holocaust victims and their looted art: How accounting helps the dead find justice

Abstract

Six million Jews were exterminated during World War II. Not only did Hitler's regime eliminate Jews, it sought to erase evidence of their existence and contributions to society through the organised theft of Jewish art, furniture and cultural and religious artefacts. The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg Task Force was a Nazi organisation responsible for confiscating, inventorying and transporting important cultural artwork of Jewish owners from Nazi controlled countries to Germany. This article examines the inventory record system of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg Task Force and considers the role of the accounting records to facilitate the theft of art during the war and repatriation of art after the war, providing a necroaccountability for the organisations that stole and those that continue to hold stolen assets. The accounting system, developed to facilitate Nazi theft, now serves Jewish victims and their heirs to identify stolen art and provide justice for the dead.

Keywords

accounting history auction house death expropriated art Holocaust necroaccountability repatriation restitution

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