Provenance Research:

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Museum
Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr (German Federal Army Museum of Military History)

Successor of the Heeresmuseum Dresden (closed 1945/6).

Research into Nazi-confiscated cultural property in the museum's collection
Research undertaken by the museum indicates that there is no looted cultural property in its present collection. The museum states however that they do not know if such objects were allotted to the museum between 1933-45 and whether they were not then stored in safer places in Bohemia during the war. There are rumours that a Czech castle was used to store museum property between 1939-45 but the information is very scanty. No documents survive to clarify this. There is also the possibility that museum property was taken away by the Soviet Army in 1945. Again there are no documents that could illuminate this. 

Research into cultural property missing from the museum
Part of the collection of the Heeresmuseum Dresden was destroyed and/or looted during the Second World War. The museum has compiled lists of items removed by the Soviet Army in 1945-6, including military decorations, seals and stamps of the Saxon Army, paintings and prints, as well as historical arms, uniforms and insignia. A small part of the collection was returned between 1955 and 1959, but went to other collections in Dresden and East Berlin due to the closure of the Heeresmuseum in 1945-6. Some items are thought to be located at the St. Petersburg Museum of Artillery as well as in other museums of the former Soviet Union.

Contact Details
Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr
Olbrichtplatz 2
01099 Dresden
Tel: +49 (0) 823 2800
Fax: +49 (0) 823 2805
Email: MilHistMuseumBwEingang@bundeswehr.org
http://www.milhistmuseum.de/

Source
Central Registry Archives, Correspondence, 3 December 2002

<http://www.milhistmuseum.de/>, accessed 17 December 2002

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