Digitization of the index cards from the Nazi Central Depot

The edition of 11,500 index cards from the so-called “Central Depot for Confiscated Collections” has been available online since early December.

This extensive project was made possible by the collaboration between the Commission for Provenance Research and the Archive of the Art History Museum over a period of two years.

The “Central Depot for Confiscated Collections” was established at the Hofburg in 1938. At the time the Nazis aryanized well over 10,000 art objects formerly under Jewish ownership. At first, it was only intended for the objects to be stored temporarily at the Hofburg before being allocated to various museums, including the planned “Führer Museum” in Linz. The depot was run by the Art History Museum until 1940 and was catalogued and documented accordingly, forming the basis for the index cards that have now been digitized. Another holding is accommodated by the Archive of the Federal Office for the Protection of Monuments, whose predecessor was administered by the Central Depot from 1940.

The digitization of the index cards not only serves to protect the original source material but also facilitates access to them for researchers and other interested parties, enabling research into related sources on Nazi looted art in Austria to be carried out in parallel.

Link to the index cards of the Central Depot: http://www.zdk-online.org/