Vienna University of Economics and Business

A provenance research project has been underway at the University Library of the Vienna University of Economics and Business since 2010. The project involves systematically examining and documenting the library’s holdings with a view to ascertaining any unlawful acquisitions of printed material published up to and including 1945, in order to return them, where possible, to their rightful owners or their legal successors.

The examination of the relevant holdings (approx. 70,000 volumes) of the main library (aka the OMV Library Center) has been completed. Around two percent of the books are suspected of being or have been proven to be Nazi looted goods. From April 2018 around 3,000 volumes from the libraries of the legal and sociology faculties and of the Berndorf Library for Business Languages will be subjected to scrutiny.    

The collaboration with the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism has been of great help in expediting the search for the rightful owners and carrying out prompt restitutions.

More information on the current status of the provenence research can be found on our website at https://www.wu.ac.at/bibliothek/ueber-die-bib/provenienzforschung/ (as per March 2018)