Documentation of Persecuted Jewish Collectors

The goal of the project “Documentation of Persecuted Jewish Collectors” is to contribute to a broader understanding of the significant cultural contribution of pre-war Jewish collectors to European cultural heritage. Each name listed exemplifies the collector’s passion at the time—whether from fine arts to books, from Judaica to musical instruments and beyond—but also his or her story of robbery and loss, of persecution and often death, and post-war attempts to recover what was stolen.

In March 2023, the JDCRP published a first initial list of approximately 2,000 names of collectors from various European countries. In April 2025, the JDCRP published an expanded list of more than 3,600 persecuted Jewish collectors and presented three case studies, see links at the bottom of the page, of persecuted Jewish collectors coming from Austria, Germany and Estonia.

Since then, the list has been substantially expanded, and as of January 2026, the JDCRP is able to present an updated version containing more than 5,600 names.

This updated list provides information on persecuted Jewish collectors from 19 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, and Switzerland.

In 188 cases, it has not yet been possible to determine the country of residence of the persecuted Jewish collector, as the archival sources consulted provide only the individual’s name and/or information about the collection, and, when available, details of the individual’s persecution.

More research remains necessary, not only to expand the list of Jewish collectors from the countries already covered, such as France and Italy, but also to include persecuted Jewish collectors from countries that have yet to be researched altogether, such as Romania, Moldova, and Belarus.

The JDCRP is developing this initial list of persecuted Jewish collectors further to transform it further into a powerful research tool. A more detail-oriented version of the list is being prepared that will include further information to the greatest extent possible on collectors’ lives, their family and business connections, the types of their collections, and their persecution histories. For further information as many sources as possible will be listed to provide easily accessible additional data. As of January 2026, detailed information has been compiled on more than 2,000 persecuted Jewish collectors across 15 countries, with further research planned in the coming months.

Suggestions and corrections regarding specific entries, as well as additional information about persecuted Jewish collectors not yet listed, may be sent to info@jdcrp.org.

Research on the Austrian and Czech names of persecuted Jewish collectors was substantively assisted by The Documentation Center for Property Transfers of the Cultural Assets of WWII Victims (CDMP) and the Commission for Provenance Research at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Civil Service and Sport.

Support by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for research and development of the list is gratefully acknowledged, as is additional support by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM).

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Case Study (2): The Looting of Albert Einstein’s Cultural Property

Case Study (3): The ERR Looting of the Julius Genss Collection

last updated January 2026

Photo Courtesy: (1) Gebrüder Kohn, courtesy Marilyn Rauch (2) Albert Einstein during a lecture in Vienna in 1921. Photograph by Ferdinand Schmutzer (1921), public domain (3) Collection Julius Genss, courtesy Julia Gens