Re-imagining communities through cultural property restitition: the Austrian, Italian and (West) German cases, 1945-1998

本项目分析了战后奥地利、意大利和（西）德国从第二次世界大战结束到1998年签署《关于纳粹没收艺术品的华盛顿宣言》期间被掠夺的文化财产的归还过程。作为冷战和1989年后欧洲背景下的归还社会史，该项目调查了归还对地方、国家和欧洲身份的影响，以及它在接受或摒弃这三个国家法西斯过去的过程中的相关性。认为文化财产的归还在这三个后法西斯国家寻求重塑其身份的过程中发挥了核心作用，该项目开始测试归还实践在多大程度上构成了1945年至1998年国家建设过程的关键组成部分。特别要调查的是，特别是在政治讲话、议会辩论和新闻界中出现的关于恢复的公开言论与恢复委员会、司法或金融机构和博物馆遵循的日常恢复做法之间的相互作用。该项目将通过对6个案例的研究——3个公共的和3个私人的犹太收藏品——以及历史交叉交叉和“纠缠历史”的理论进行研究。通过论述和内容分析，将审查四种主要的来源：1)与赔偿辩论和立法有关的官方文件2)新闻文章3)展览和拍卖目录4)私人文件、通信、回忆录。因此，该项目将把重点放在当地社区和行动者——包括政治家、记者、博物馆馆长、合法所有者——与对地方和国家层面的身份政治的彻底分析结合起来。采用跨国方法有几个好处。它允许1)检查国家恢复进程如何嵌入更广泛的跨国话语和实践；2)比较Vergangenheitsbewältigung进程在这三个国家的演变方式，并评估哪些文化概念——当地的、国家的或欧洲的——有助于每个国家试图与法西斯历史保持距离；3)发现三国之间的互动轨迹和共同转折点；4)检验有关国家之间的跨国纠缠和跨国犹太归还机构的活动如何随着时间的推移影响犹太财产归还的进程，以及原因；5)强调在人员、实践和立法方面与两次世界大战和第二次世界大战期间的具体连续性及其对战后方法的影响。通过评估复原过程实际上在多大程度上影响了（重新）构建国家和欧洲身份的更广泛尝试，该项目将提供对文化财产复原在后法西斯主义和后1989年欧洲背景下的政治作用的第一次跨国考察

This project analyses the process of restitution of looted cultural property in post-war Austria, Italy and (West) Germany from the end of the Second World War to the signing of the "Washington Declaration on Nazi-confiscated Art" in 1998. Conceived as a social history of restitution in the context of Cold War and post-1989 Europe, the project investigates the impact of restitution on local, national and European identities and its relevance in the process of acceptance or dismissal of these three countries' fascist past. Arguing that the restitution of cultural property played a central role in these three post-fascist countries' quest to refashion their identities, this project sets out to test to what extent restitution practices constituted a key component of the process of nation building between 1945 and 1998. In particular, what will be under investigation is the interplay between public discourses of restitution, present especially in political speeches, parliamentary debates and the press, and everyday restitution practices followed by restitution committees, judicial or financial institutions and museums. The project will be conducted through the examination of six case studies - 3 public and 3 private Jewish collections - along the theories of histoire croisée and 'entangled history'. Four main types of sources will be examined through discourse and content analysis: 1) official documents relating to restitution debates and legislation 2) press articles 3) exhibition and auction catalogues 4) private papers, correspondence, memoirs. The project will thereby combine a focus on local communities and actors - including politicians, journalists, museum curators, rightful owners - with a thorough analysis of identity politics at local and national levels. There are several benefits to adopting a transnational approach. It allows to 1) examine how national processes of restitution were embedded in broader transnational discourses and praxis; 2) compare the way the process of Vergangenheitsbewältigung evolved in all three countries and assess what concepts of culture - local, national or European - were conducive to each country's attempt to distance itself from its fascist past; 3) detect trajectories of interaction and common turning points among the three countries; 4) test how transnational entanglements between the countries in question and the activities of transnational Jewish restitution agencies affected the process of restitution of Jewish property over time, and why; 5) highlight tangible continuities with the interwar and WWII years in terms of personnel, practices and legislation and their impact on postwar approaches. By assessing the extent to which restitution processes actually fed into broader attempts to (re)-construct national and European identities, the project will provide the first transnational examination of the political role of cultural property restitution in the context of post-fascist and post-1989 Europe