Credit: Bastian Krack for the Bavarian National Museum

A Joint Wiener Holocaust Library and Second Generation Network event

At this event, Third Generation Network committee member Tom Willett will introduce Dr Matthias Weniger, head of provenance research at the Bavarian National Museum. Dr Weniger directs a project tracing the heirs of 111 silver objects confiscated by the German Reich and later bought by the museum. The objects had been seized and sold to the museum as part of the gigantic silver levy imposed on German Jews in 1939. Dr Weniger will explain how he and his small team have been tracing the heirs and returning items to them since 2019.

By September 2023, 54 objects had been restituted to some 70 families across the word; in some cases, more than 30 descendants are involved in the return of one or two objects. After the talk there will be a chance to ask questions and share stories of family objects that have been returned or restituted. This event is open to members of the First, Second and Third Generations.

About the speaker: Dr Matthias Weniger has been head of provenance research at The Bavarian National Museum since 2021. Weniger studied Art History in Berlin, Bonn and Barcelona, completing his PhD in 1997. He has worked for the State Museums in Berlin, for the paintings collection in Dresden, and at The Bavarian National Museum, Munich. He has long focused on the history of collecting and provenance issues. In 2011 he worked on a project concerned with the sculptures owned by Hermann Göring. Since 2021, he has led the network of provenance researchers in Bavaria.

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