Stolen Jewish Legacies:
The Fate of the Andriesse Collection

A Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project (JDCRP) exhibition, produced in cooperation with the Jewish Museum of Belgium and the FPS Economy (Economy Ministry of Belgium). Curated by JDCRP Research and Documentation Officer Anne Uhrlandt.

“Stolen Jewish Legacies: The Fate of the Andriesse Collection” traces the lives and cultural impact of Dutch-Belgian philanthropists and art collectors Hugo Daniel Andriesse (1867-1942) and his wife Eli­sabeth Andriesse (1871-1963), whose significant contributions to European cultural heritage were long neglected. The Andriesses were socially prominent benefactors of charitable institutions in prewar Brussels and committed collectors of Old Master paintings and textiles. This exhibition retrieves the story of their lives and the fate of their collection, which was looted in 1941 by Nazi-occupation officials in Belgium.

The project demonstrates how archival material can help in reconstructing the lives and fates of Holocaust victims. It highlights both the dimensions of the pan-European theft of Jewish cultural property, as well as the integral role of cultural plunder in the planning of the genocide of the Jews.

The exhibition was first presented at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels on November 7, 2024. On this occasion, Elisabeth Andriesse’s copy of Armoede, referenced in the exhibition, was presented to her legal heirs by a representative of the FPS Economy (Economy Ministry of Belgium).

Explore the exhibition by clicking the individual panels below, or click here to view all panels in one PDF.

The exhibition is part of a project co-funded by the European Union and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (the Claims Conference), sponsored by the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (EVZ) and supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).