War Booty, Provenance Research, Restitution
A Charter by Peter the Great, Networks of Eastern Europe Researchers, and the Lessons of the Tübingen Case
Katharina Kucher, Corinna Kuhr-Korolev, Tetiana Sebta, Nataliia Sinkevych
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
A magnificent charter by Peter the Great was exhibited for decades at Tübingen’s Institute for East European History. A German-Ukrainian research group has now established that this document, which is of particular importance for Ukrainian church history, was taken from the Vernadsky Library in Kiev during the German occupation in 1941 and carted off as war booty. After the war, Werner Markert, a historian of Eastern Europe, acquired it. His network from the period before 1945 played an important role in its acquisition. This case shows that library and museum collections not acquired during the “critical” period between 1933 and 1945 also need to be examined in detail with respect to provenance. International cooperation promises more success. Now, the document is being restituted to Ukraine.
(Osteuropa 11-12/2016, pp. 149–167)