The federal monuments office archives before 1945 possess substantial holdings of export materials, which represent a source for investigations about deprivation and restitutions carried out at the time, similar to the individual folders (the so called “Personenmappen”).
Chronological extent: 1918 to 1945
The export holdings are composed of:
- Export forms (almost entirely in good condition)
- Export files (strongly flawed)
- Export database
The holdings 1 and 2 are arranged chronologically. The part relevant for provenance research contains the period of 1938 to 1945 and consists of roughly 19,000 documents.
Export files after 1946 fall under the responsibility of the archives of the Department for Export at the federal monuments office.
1. Export Forms
1938 9952 forms
1939 6469 forms
1940 0755 forms
1941 0291 forms
1942 0146 forms
1943 0170 forms
1944 0136 forms
1945 0041 forms
2. Export Files
1938/1
1939/2
1940
1941
1942
1943, 1944, 1945
roughly 500 documents received
The limited export of “items of historic, artistic or cultural value” in Austria dates back to 1918 and 1923, where the Export Prohibition Act was enacted and amended respectively. The aim was to control the danger of carrying out or amortization of valuable cultural and art assets. Theoretically, the property rights should not be damaged through the export refusal. The intended right of appeal against a negative notice was already annulled in the early 1930s. Works of still living artists or artists that have not been dead for 20 years are exempt from export. Artists like Klimt or Schiele (both died in 1918) are rarely mentioned in the export forms.
The Export Prohibition Act however, became an instrument of art theft under Nazi-reign and the imposed export ban became the preliminary stage of dispossession.
Finding aids: Card index 1938/1939, arranged alphabetically.
Protocol books 1938-1942 and 1945 respectively
3. Export Database
The database contains a selection of the export holding. The database includes informations from the export files till 1977.
Selection criterias: Export prohibition, applicants, permissions