Provenance research at the Oberhausmuseum
"Provenance" means "the place of origin of something". Provenance research is therefore concerned with the origin of objects – in our case, objects in the collection of the Oberhausmuseum. The museum was founded in 1932 and by 1933 it already had around 1,000 objects, most of which came from its predecessor institution, the municipal museum in Passau’s Old Town Hall.
A further 1,400 objects were acquired during the Nazi period between 1933 and 1945. In many cases, it is not clear where the objects came from – but it is extremely important for a museum to know exactly what is in its collection. During the Nazi era, Jews in particular were deprived of their rights and their property was stolen. This means that objects acquired before 1945 could have been Jewish property. It is important for the Oberhausmuseum to clarify exactly where the collection came from. If there are objects in our depots that were confiscated as a result of persecution, we have an ethical and moral obligation either to return them to their rightful owners, or to seek just and fair compensation.
The inventory records of the 1,400 objects that entered the museum between 1933 and 1945 are being revised as part of a two-year project. This important preparatory work has not yet been possible due to a lack of human and financial resources.
The local Nazi history, its protagonists, and the fates of the persecuted have also only been rudimentarily analysed. "Aryanisation", the expropriation of Jewish property, and the sale of houses took place after 1933. To what extent did the museum benefit from this? Who were the victims? A systematic study of the acquisition of objects between 1933 and 1945 can therefore make an important contribution not only to the history of the Nazi regime in Passau but also to the history of the city’s Jewish community after 1933.
As part of a so-called “Erstcheck” (initial check) carried out in 2020 and 2021 by the Landesstelle für nichtstaatliche Museen in Bayern (State Office for Non-State Museums in Bavaria), the first objects with problematic provenance have already been identified. Some objects, for example, were acquired at Munich auction houses that are now known to have dealt in looted art, that is, objects stolen from Jews who were pressurised into selling their collections.
In addition, there is a collection of 89 objects that were initially confiscated by the US military authorities in Passau in 1946 and transferred on to the Central Collecting Point (CCP) in Munich. At various Central Collecting Points, including those in Wiesbaden, Marburg, Offenbach and Celle, the Allies collected artefacts that had been moved by the Nazis to castles, fortresses or mine tunnels in order to protect them from bombing. These included the holdings of German museums, but also thousands of objects stolen by the Nazi state – both in the German Reich, e.g. from people who had emigrated or been deported, as well as in the occupied territories. The CCPs returned most of these objects to their rightful owners.
To this day, however, it remains unclear how the 89 objects mentioned above came into the possession of the city of Passau. In 1958, 88 works were returned to the city; one object was restituted by the CCP to Yugoslavia. Since 2001, 66 objects from this collection have been listed in the Lost Art database, while the remaining objects could not be located at that time. In the summer of 2023, two paintings from the collection were thus able to be returned to their rightful owners in France.
The project is funded by the City of Passau, the Landesstelle für nichtstaatliche Museen in Bayern (State Office for Non-State Museums in Bavaria), and the Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste (German Lost Art Foundation). Accompanying events will take place during the two-year duration of the project, and a special exhibition on the results will be organised at the Oberhausmuseum once the research has been completed. In addition, a detailed final report will be available in the Proveana database, which documents the results of the research projects funded by the Foundation.
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Vratislav Nechleba: The writer Johanna Tauber (1922)
The oil painting of an unknown woman is part of a collection of works found at the Veste in 1945, the provenance of which was unknown. During the course of a two-year research project, it was established that the woman depicted is the Czech Jewish writer Johanna Tauber (1880–1944), to whom the work also belonged. The painting was stolen in 1942 from a commercial furniture warehouse in Paris, where Tauber had stored it prior to her planned emigration. She and her husband were unable to leave what was then Czechoslovakia; they were arrested by the Gestapo in 1944 and took their own lives to avoid being transported to an extermination camp. Two of their three children survived the Holocaust. The painting is now being returned to their heirs. A report on the research can be found on the blog for provenance researchers at SLUB Dresden: read the blog post.
Ludwig (Louis) Fleischmann: Man in Riding Attire (1888), Woman in Riding Attire (1900)
The two large-scale paintings have been housed at the Oberhausmuseum since 1991. They were found in very poor condition in the attic of the house at Brunngasse 1 in Passau; they had presumably been stored there for decades. As part of the research project, information was first gathered on the painter Ludwig (Louis) Fleischmann, who is mentioned in only one art encyclopaedia, and even there with an incorrect date of birth. Subsequently, the residents of the house on Brunngasse were identified in order to find out who owned the works and who is depicted in them. There was a possibility that they belonged to the Jewish couple Nathan and Gertrud Klein, who were forced to emigrate to Palestine in 1936. This suspicion was ruled out. It is highly likely that the pictures depict two residents of Passau: the wine merchant and member of the municipal council Ludwig Mühlbauer (1856–1912) and his wife Aloisia (1869–1932).
Armour-piercing spear (c. 1500)
The 140 cm long drill sword was acquired in 1934. During the research project, all acquisitions made between 1933 and 1945 were reviewed to ensure that they had been made lawfully and without coercion. The armour-piercing sword was purchased at an auction house in Cologne. By comparing correspondence held at the Bavarian Main State Archive in Munich, contemporary auction catalogues and existing findings by other researchers on the Proveana.de database, it was established that the sword originated from the collection of a well-known Cologne collector. The purchase is therefore above suspicion.
Passauer Tödlein (1673)
One of the most important exhibits at the Oberhausmuseum is the so-called ‘Passauer Tödlein’, a small carved figure made of boxwood. Only a few of these sculptures remain; they depict a skeleton, usually holding an hourglass or a bow and arrow, with scraps of skin artfully carved to appear as though draped over the bones. Until now, it had been assumed that the figure had entered the collection of the then City Museum as early as 1924. However, a review of the museum’s own inventories now appears to confirm an entry date of 1934 – which cast the figure under suspicion. Its acquisition history could, however, also be substantiated by further internal documents: A mechanic from Passau had carried out installation work at Niedernburg Abbey and asked the nuns for the Tödlein as a rather curious form of payment. Max Heuwieser, the museum director in 1934, became aware of this figure through as yet unexplained circumstances and purchased it from the mechanic in 1934 for the Ostmarkmuseum.