The Kunsthaus Zürich will review its own collection as a priority, ahead of existing long-term loans. The review will focus primarily on establishing the prehistory of the works of art created before 1945 that entered the Kunsthaus’ collection after 30 January 1933. The aim is to ensure that no cultural property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution remains unidentified in the collection holdings. The research results will be continually updated in the museum’s internal database and will be available to all members of Kunsthaus staff. The results of completed research projects will be published via the online collection. The entry for each object researched will assign it to a category, from ‘provenance certain and not suspicious’, to ‘clear indications of cultural property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution’.

A number of individual projects jointly financed by the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) have been completed to date, including the online publication of the provenance of works in the Collection of Paintings and Sculptures (2016–2018); the investigation into the acquisitions for the Collection of Prints and Drawings in the years 1933–1950 (2017–2019) and the cataloguing of the letterpress copybooks (outgoing correspondence from the Kunsthaus) for the years 1933–1945 (2021–2022) from the Kunsthaus’ extensive archival holdings.

Two projects supported by the FOC are currently being implemented, one to research the gifts by Leopold Ruzicka (1949), Nelly Bär (1968) and Walter Haefner (1973–1995) (2021–2023), which now belong to the Kunsthaus’ collection; and one to investigate the acquisitions for the Collection of Paintings and Sculptures, 1946–1960 (2023–2024).

To ensure that the ongoing review of the collection holdings can be continued in future, it will be necessary to create new permanent positions and procure third-party resources. A combination of the Kunsthaus’ own funds and support from the FOC and others has enabled the creation of two additional positions in 2023. The Executive Council of the Canton of Zurich has also committed a substantial sum from the culture fund for provenance research at the Kunsthaus Zürich. (*4)

The provenances of new acquisitions created prior to 1945, including gifts, bequests and long-term loans, will be reviewed at the Kunsthaus Zürich before they are accepted. The acquisition of objects that constitute property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution, or the introduction of which into Switzerland violates national or international law, is to be avoided by a meticulous review of their provenance, with the aim of ensuring that only works which are not suspicious are integrated into the collection. Large-scale new acquisitions that cannot be reviewed within a short timeframe will initially only be accepted provisionally and conditionally.

The Kunsthaus Zürich will review objects in its own collection as a priority, ahead of existing and new long-term loans. Temporary external loans for the Kunsthaus’ own temporary exhibitions will be reviewed by way of an initial check, provided this can be done using reasonable efforts. To ensure the Kunsthaus’ provenance research staff have sufficient time to prepare for specific reviews of planned loans, they will be notified by the relevant departments at the earliest opportunity.

The Kunsthaus Zürich declares that sales made by emigrants between 30 January 1933 and 8 May 1945 outside the area of Nazi rule will be subjected to particular attention. In-depth research into these holdings will be treated as a priority in the coming years. Where it is obvious that a work was sold exclusively as a result of emigration attributable to persecution – for example, when a rapid sale was conducted to enable the person concerned to flee Nazi-controlled territory; they were not able to dispose freely of the proceeds of sale; a sale price was set that was not appropriate when measured against comparable market transactions;

or the sale was carried out to secure the livelihood of someone who, for instance, was prohibited from practising their profession or was subject to other measures of state persecution in their country of residence – the Kunsthaus Zürich is, in accordance with the Washington Principles recognized by Switzerland in 1998 and the follow-up Terezín Declaration of 2009, prepared, provided this can be done using reasonable efforts, to locate heirs, notify them accordingly and, subject to the circumstances of the specific case, seek mutually agreed ‘just and fair solutions’.

The Kunsthaus Zürich will, on its own initiative, conduct in-depth research into works of art whose provenance between 30 January 1933 and 8 May 1945 is uncertain or where there are indications that they are cultural property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution. Where there are substantiated indications of cultural property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution, the Kunsthaus Zürich will attempt, through research, to identify the presumed claimants (heirs), to the extent that this can be done using reasonable efforts. These persons will be contacted proactively by the Kunsthaus with a view to jointly seeking a ‘just and fair solution’. The same procedure will apply after clarification of entitlement in the case of external claims to a work from the Kunsthaus’s holdings.

The spectrum of ‘just and fair solutions’ extends from, for example, publicly acknowledging the circumstances of confiscation for the purposes of memory culture by an exhibition or mentioning the provenance history when the work is displayed in the museum to paying compensation; selling the work to a third party and apportioning the proceeds; or having a third party purchase it and subsequently lend it to the museum; or indeed returning the work (restitution). The works subject to in-depth research will be identified to the public by means of a specific notice in the exhibition rooms.

The Kunsthaus will reflect on its own collection history and organize events and work presentations on topics related to provenance research. Provenance research staff will inform employees of the Kunsthaus about current issues and developments in provenance research by means of handouts and specific workshops. They will work actively with the curators as well as the Art Education and Communications & Marketing departments with the aim of presenting the historical contexts and the histories of specific objects to visitors as transparently and precisely as possible. Research results will be communicated appropriately in guided tours, publications, online articles and lectures as well as the Kunsthaus’ own exhibition projects and work presentations.

The Kunsthaus supports international networking among researchers and favours the international exchange of information. As far as possible, all members of provenance research staff will be both members of the Schweizerischer Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung (Swiss Provenance Research Association, SAP/ASP) and associated with the international Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V. They will meet established standards of scientific research.

The Kunsthaus Zürich will continue to publish further selected holdings from the extensive, publicly accessible archives of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft and the Kunsthaus Zürich at digital.kunsthaus.ch. The documents that are of particular relevance to international provenance research to date include the exhibition catalogues (1801–1949), the annual reports (1885–2021) and the outgoing correspondence contained in the letterpress copybooks (1933–1945).

In each individual case, decisions regarding a ‘just and fair solution’ will be taken by the Director’s provenance committee on the basis of the results of provenance research. The committee will comprise the Director, the Collection Curator, the Head of Provenance Research and a legal representative. It will then submit a proposal regarding further action to be taken to the Board, headed by the Chair.

In the case of works owned by the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, §17 para. 9 of the Articles of Association[1] stipulates that the power to take decisions regarding a ‘just and fair solution’ in accordance with the Washington Principles rests with the Board, headed by its Chair.