The Second World War (1933–1945) was the backdrop for the most prolific looting of cultural goods in recorded history, during which Nazi officers confiscated an estimated one-fifth of all art in Europe. The present study offers the first analysis of the social networks which facilitated the movement of these looted goods during and after the war based on the provenance database Proveana. Managed by the German Lost Art Foundation, Proveana holds records on individuals, events, collections, and organisations, and visualises the immediate relationship networks around each entity. This study has extracted these data, reconstructed all relationships contained in the database, and conducted social network analysis (SNA) on the resulting network. Findings from SNA indicate that the network is moderately efficient, with easy and quick interactions despite its large size. A single component comprises 94% of the entire system, with specific nodes playing crucial roles as bridges between disparate groups. Of these, the Nazi Party itself has the highest centrality according to most measures, reflecting its pivotal role in orchestrating the looting of art. This research also highlights Walter Neuling as the sole bridge linking the main network of Nazi-era looting with later government-led confiscations in the German Democratic Republic in the 1960s (codenamed ‘Aktion Licht’). Other insights from this study shed light on the figures and institutions most crucial to the circulation of looted goods during and after the war and suggest new opportunities for research into previously overlooked entities to complement incomplete and unreliable postwar provenance records.
Giovanelli et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: