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Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste

The Coordination Office publishes research on the Lost Art Internet Database regarding cultural property lost by German Institutions during the war and cultural property seized or looted by the Nazis.

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ1783843 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste (English: "Coordination Center for Lost Cultural Assets"), also known as the Koordinierungsstelle Magdeburg (English: "Magdeburg Coordination Center"), is an institution of the German federal and state governments at the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Culture and is the central German institution for the documentation of lost and found cultural assets looted by the Nazis. Established in 2001, the Koordinierungsstelle's Lost Art Database documents and publishes lost and found reports by institutions and private individuals. It operates on a cooperative basis with the international Art Loss Register.

History

The Koordinierungsstelle was first established in 1994 in Bremen as an institution for the German states to document the institutional losses of cultural goods during the Second World War. The center thereby took over an operation that was carried out by German Ministry of the Interior since the 1950s. Originally they dealt with artworks left behind during the flight and expulsion of ethnic Germans between 1944 and 1950. Only after 1990 was looted art, defined as cultural goods seized illegally by German authorities during National Socialism, included in the center's documentation.

In 1998, the Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste moved to Magdeburg with newly extended responsibilities and financed half by the German Federal Government and half by all of the state governments. It is an official central German institution, whose administrative and technical supervision is in the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Culture. Since 2010 its official name is Koordinierungsstelle Magdeburg - Eine Einrichtung des Bundes und der Länder für Kulturgutdokumentation und Kulturgutverluste beim Kultusministerium des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt (English: "The Magdeburg Coordination Center - An institution of the federal and state governments for cultural documentation and lost cultural assets of the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Culture").

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste” as the Coordination Office publishes research on the Lost Art Internet Database regarding cultural property lost by German Institutions during the war and cultural property seized or looted by the Nazis. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Koordinierungsstelle, Kulturgutverluste and Coordination.

Editorial reviewA useful synthesis for locating the documentary relationships between formal authority, participants and affected communities. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2001, 1994, 1944, 1950—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1994. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Koordinierungsstelle, Kulturgutverluste and Coordination providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste”, the useful work is to connect “the Coordination Office publishes research on the Lost Art Internet Database regarding cultural property lost by German Institutions during the war and cultural property seized or looted by the Nazis” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1783843. VIAF identifies the subject as 248745681. The Library of Congress control number is no2006079191. Authority coordinates are 52.132, 11.661. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2001, 1994, 1944 and 1950.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
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Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste primary sources, Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste archive and Koordinierungsstelle research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste”?
  2. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.