Press 'SEARCH' to get the complete list of records in the database.
Search all objects
Enter any word you're looking for in the database.
Entering 'ERR' gives all objects that include the word 'ERR'
somewhere.
Note: Use this search field to find a specific inventory number
from the present JHM collection (provenance category JHM). A
present inv.no. consists of five digits, e.g. 00099, 00101.
Prewar inv.no.
Prewar inv.no. refers to the number
attributed to an object, as written in the prewar inventory book.
The numbering went from 1 till 738a-b. In the database a prewar
inv. no. consists of three digits, for example, 002. The database
includes only inv.nos. of objects that got lost. Therefore one does
not find, for example, inv.no. 100, which is an object that did
return in the collection after the war.
Material
Enter any material. Note: information on material is only
added when explicitly mentioned in a prewar description.
Inscription
Enter any word that is included in the inscription, its
transcription or its translation. Hebrew script is not supported.
Sometimes the object has an inscription, but when the actual
inscription is absent, this is indicated as [text] , [Hebrew],
[German] etc.
Maker
Enter surname of authors, artist, engravers, etc. Note:
information on maker is only added when explicitly mentioned in a
prewar description.
Date
Enter an exact year or century, e.g. 1810 or 18 to find
all objects made between 1800 and 1900. Note: only common era
notation.
Place
Enter city or country. Note: information on place
is only added when explicitly mentioned in a prewar
description.
Acquisition name
Enter name of donors, lenders and of persons or shops
where objects were purchased.
Provenance references
Enter any word that may refer to archival documents that
provide additional information on the object, e.g. 'confiscated' or
'Stedelijk Museum'.
Literature references
Enter any word that may be part of the title of a
publication that refers to the object, such as exhibition
catalogues and articles that were published in Jewish and
non-Jewish newspapers.
Provenance category
Enter 'lost' in order to find objects from the prewar collection
or 'jhm' to objects of the present collection with unknown
provenance.
Summary
This is based on the Dutch description in the prewar inventory
book, that formed the basis for research plus additional
information on the object retrieved from other sources, such as
exhibition catalogues and archival documents.
In the case of objects from the present museum collection
(provenance category JHM), this field gives the present inventory
number.
Photos and photo credit
Photographs were searched for in different archives.
Records may contain more than one photograph of an object (when,
for example, photographed from a different angle, or showing other
features). Photographs of specific features or details are also
included (these features may help to identify the objects). Other
photographs show an object in its surrounding, for example, the
exhibition spaces. Photos were selected without any criteria of
quality. Even when the image of the object is not focused or vague,
the contours of the object may help to identify it.
Inventory book 1930-1941
Here the original Dutch description from the prewar
inventory book is given. Users of the database that are familiar
with the Dutch language can compare the text with the English
translation. This may be useful because sometimes the exact meaning
of a Dutch term is not completely clear and may be interpreted in
more than one way.
Other description
This field contains additional information on an object,
retrieved from other sources (see 'source') than the JHM prewar
inventory book.
Provenance references
This field refers to archival documents that refer to the
object. The document may give additional information on the object,
such as specific features, and also sheds light on the location and
wartime path of the object. Nature and content of the document are
explained here and one finds an image of the page that refers to
the object (if the document consists of more than one page, only
the relevant page is shown). The following archives hold documents
that relate to objects in the prewar JHM collection:
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Between 1939 and 1942 objects were entrusted for
safekeeping to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (SM). The
SM archive holds documents that relate to the transfer
of these objects from the JHM to the SM. The most important
document is an inventory of objects that the JHM handed over to the
SM. The inventory consists of lists with JHM objects with and
JHM without inv. no., medals without inv.no., private loans, loans
of the Ashkenazi Community Amsterdam, loans of the Portuguese
Jewish Community Amsterdam, and loans of four other institutions.
With the exception of the objects of the latter institutions that
were returned to these institutions, The objects on
these lists were confiscated by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter
Rosenberg (ERR) in 1943. The archive also contains some postwar
correspondence about objects that had remained in the SM and were
to be returned to the JHM. Another postwar document is an inventory
of objects, that according to JHM staff did not return from Nazi
Germany.
The Jewish Historical Museum
Most of the Museum archive got lost during the war, only very
few documents remain. One of these is an inventory of objects that
were present in the Weigh House (Waag) in December 1940. This
inventory was made for the insurance policy. Objects that do not
appear on the list may already have been handed over to the SM by
the time the inventory was made or returned to the owners. At the
bottom of the document it is stated that some of the object that
are present in the Weigh House may not have been included in the
list.
In 1987 the prewar inventory book reappeared: it was anonymously
handed over to the museum director during the opening of the Museum
at its present location. The last entry in this book, no. 738, was
recorded on 18 November 1941. The descriptions of the objects
formed the basis for our research.The museum archive also holds a
list that mentions 300 looted objects that returned from the
Offenbach Archival Depot and were handed over to the Dutch Art
Heritage Foundation (Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit). The list is
dated January 1947. These objects were presumed to belong to the
JHM. This is difficult to check, since descriptions are poor and
identification is possible in only very few cases. Some objects on
the list were not part of the prewar collection, such as wooden and
silver Torah crowns and two pairs of zinc finials (the prewar
collection mentions only one pair).
From about 1960 Museum employees started to register the Museum
collection in an inventory book. The numbering that was then
attributed to the objects is still valid. In many cases the book
does not mention how and from whom an object was acquired. These
objects of unknown provenance are included in the
database.
National Archives, College Park, Maryland, USA
The National Archives (NA) hold material of the ERR and the US
Military Government that relates to the collection of the JHM.
Among the Cultural Property Claims Applications, 1946-1948 (that
are part of the Records of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives
[MFAA] Section of the Reparations and Restitution Brach, Office
Military Government U.S. Zone [OMGUS]), is an inventory (see claim
no. N007) listing around 672 Museum objects in German handwriting
was probably made after the transfer of the collection from the
Institut zur Erforschung der Judenfrage in Frankfurt a/M to Hungen.
This transport probably took place in November 1943 (these dates:
12.11.43 and 20.11.43, appear on p. 109, which are objects in
the Spar und Leihkasse zu Hungen, and p. 110 resp.). The inventory
mentions which objects were broken , and gives information on their
specific location, and on dimensions of some objects (dimensions
are not given by any other source). Some objects have a code (G,
followed by a number) that was most likely assigned by the ERR. The
exact meaning of this code is not clear yet. In the same claim
application is a typed 'inventarliste des Joodsch Historisch
Museum', that combines and orders the Stedelijk Museum lists (see
above) according to inventory number.
American loading lists of objects that were returned from the
Offenbach Archival Depot can provide valuable information on the
date of transport of an object. However, often the poor
descriptions do not allow identification of an object.
The National Archives hold photographs of the Offenbach Archival
Depot (M1949, roll 29 (section VI of Album). Many of these
photographs can also be found in the JHM archive. These
photographs, taken in 1946, show the storage of textiles,
Hannukah lamps and other objects. Remarkably, many objects on these
photographs are clearly Dutch and were looted from the Museum or
Dutch Jewish communities.