4. Lists and Inventories. Tools for Categorisation in the Context of Spoliation and Restitution
Type de matériel :
TexteLangue : français Détails de publication : 2025.
Ressources en ligne : Abrégé : This article explores how lists and inventories, typically seen as neutral administrative tools, were used during and after the Nazi occupation of France as instruments of anti-Semitic persecution and restitution processes. It focuses on organizations such as the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg and the Dienststelle Westen, which categorized and looted Jewish-owned property — from fine art to everyday objects — often using detailed inventories. These documents, far from being mere records, played an active role in defining the value and status of objects and, by extension, their owners. After the war, restitution efforts also relied heavily on such lists, both from administrative bodies and victims themselves, turning them into tools of recovery and remembrance. The article argues that these inventories had a performative dimension: they shaped not just how objects were managed but how identities and persecution were acknowledged, offering a lens into the bureaucratic and emotional legacies of spoliation.
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This article explores how lists and inventories, typically seen as neutral administrative tools, were used during and after the Nazi occupation of France as instruments of anti-Semitic persecution and restitution processes. It focuses on organizations such as the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg and the Dienststelle Westen, which categorized and looted Jewish-owned property — from fine art to everyday objects — often using detailed inventories. These documents, far from being mere records, played an active role in defining the value and status of objects and, by extension, their owners. After the war, restitution efforts also relied heavily on such lists, both from administrative bodies and victims themselves, turning them into tools of recovery and remembrance. The article argues that these inventories had a performative dimension: they shaped not just how objects were managed but how identities and persecution were acknowledged, offering a lens into the bureaucratic and emotional legacies of spoliation.




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