PERSONAL STORIES ABOUT THE LOOTING AND RESTITUTION OF JEWISH CULTURAL PROPERTY
Rijjksmuseum
For survivors and heirs of those Jews who were killed, the end of the Holocaust marked the start of the long search for their possessions. And the bitter struggle to recover both their property and their dignity.
Looted brings the audience into a world of children’s drawings, photos, ceremonial objects and books. First-hand documents and interviews convey the underlying narrative: the pain that victims continue to feel to this day.
The exhibition also tells the story of Dési Goudstikker-Halban (1912-1996). Her husband, art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, died in 1940 on their escape to England.
After the war, she struggled for many years to recover his art collection from the Dutch state. Goudstikker’s flourishing art business had been stripped bare by the Nazis during the war.
Dési Goudstikker found herself face-to-face with an uncompromising Dutch government and the stubborn bureaucratic officialdom of the organisations that lay in her path. Having pursued her case for many years, the exhausted heiress eventually agreed to settle.
In the Jewish Museum, the story of publisher Leo Isaac Lessmann is on display. Lessmann was a passionate collector of Jewish ritual objects. He owned about 1000 ritual objects, which were very dear to him because they represented and passed on Jewish spiritual values and traditions for him.
Before the war, he managed to send his collection to Amsterdam and flee to Palestine himself. In Amsterdam, most of his collection was stolen by the Nazis.
After the war, Lessmann had to move heaven and earth to receive financial compensation from the German state for the loss of his collection. He ultimately received half of its total value. The objects themselves have still not been found.
In the exhibition, we extensively reflect on these and other stories. In the Jewish Museum, the exhibition focuses on the loss of books and ritual objects. In the National Holocaust Museum, art takes center stage.
The exhibition, running from 31 May to 27 October 2024 at the Jewish Museum and the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, is a co-production with Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.
What is it like when everything is taken from you? Not just your rights and freedom, but also your possessions? The dual exhibition Looted is about the loss of Jewish cultural property in the Netherlands. Eight personal stories make palpable what the theft of cultural assets means under inhumane conditions. Because objects are more than just material. They reflect your identity and have emotional significance.