CAMERA OBSCURA
A Pictorial History Exposed
A Pictorial History Exposed
THE ELEPHANT IN THE DARKROOM
GLOSSARY
A
ACQUISITION RECORD BOOK
All Museums have them. A brief but often very useful record of each ‘thing’ a museum owns. Not public, but not particularly private either. Essential for anyone doing any kind of provevance reseaerch.
ALKA MUSEUM OF SAMOGITIAN HISTORY
See The Elephant in the Darkroom Cheat Sheets, here and here,
AUŠROS MUSEUM
See The Elephant in the Darkroom Cheat Sheets, here and here.
B
BALTIC PROPAGANDA SQUADRON NO. 3
Not much known at present. Thieves, but nothing solid yet found.
ALEKSAS BRUNAS
It's very interesting to note that Giršas Rivkindas' studio (1909-1943) was taken over after the war by the Lithuanian photographer Aleksas Brunas
C
COMMISSION FOR THE LIQUIDATION OF JEWISH PROPERTY
A local department in every municipality was given the task of sorting out Jewish possessions. Distrbution mostly via local auction. Any valubles handed over to the Germans. A fascinating subject thet remains tabboo in lithuania.
F
FIRST SOVIET OCCUPATION
An extremely complicated year before the arrival of the Germans. See here for a breakdown.
G
PRANAS GENYS
Killed by the Soviets after the war, Genys was never given the chance to explain about his activities. Research is ongoing. See The Elephant in the Darkroom Cheat Sheet here.
H
HISTORICAL CONTEXTS
A project-specific breakdown of the six different provenance research periods covered by the investigation.
KLAIPĖDA/MEMEL March 23, 1939-January 28, 1945
According to most historians, Nazi Germany invaded Lithuania on June 22, 1941. The Elephant in the Darkroom considers the date to be much earlier, i.e. March 22, 1939, when the Klaipėda Region/Memel Territory became the last uncontested area of land to be occupied by the Nazis before the outbreak of the Second World War.
WILNO/VILNIUS September 18, 1939-June 15, 1940
One of the more bizarre periods in the history of Lithuania began when the Red Army occupied Wilno/Vilnius on September 18, 1939. See Osvaldas Daugelis and GiedrėJankevičiūtė's Collecting Art in the Turmoil of War for some particularly interesting information on the subject of looting Jewish art and cultural objects in general that took place during the chaotic nine months that followed.
FIRST SOVIET OCCUPATION June 15, 1940-June 22, 1941
The huge nationalisation programme that accompanied the first Soviet occupation of Lithuania saw the mass closure and/or restructuring of both secular and religious Jewish institutions all over Lithuania.
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT June 22, 1941-August 5, 1941
A relatively short period during which Lithuanian institutions participated unilaterally in the expropriation of Lithuanian Jewish cultural objects. See Heart of Glass and The Curious Case of Mauša Fligelis in cases for more.
GERMAN CIVIL ADMINISTRATION End of July 1941-January 28, 1945
During which various Nazi organisations carried out the majority of their looting operations in Lithuania.
SECOND SOVIET OCCUPATION July 1944/January 28, 1945-March 11, 1990
Coming soon
I
INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON THE JEWISH QUESTION
Not to be confused with the similar sounding Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question, part of Goebbels's propaganda ministry., the Institute for Research on the Jewish Question was part of Alfred Rosenberg's equally insane plans for legitimising the destruction of the world's Jews. Read this for more.
J
JEWISH CULTURAL RECONSTRUCTION
An American organisation founded after the Second World War whose purpose was to gather together and redistribute all Jewish cultural property that no longer had an owner and/or whose original; ownership was unknown. Most of the objects in question were books, of which nearly all were redistributed from the Offenbach Offenbach Archival Depot (↓). A large percentage of this literature is now located at the Library of Congress. An interesting article on the subject can be read here.
JEWISH DIGITAL CULTURAL RECOVERY PROJECT
One of the main challenges for anyone with a personal and/or professional interest in researching Nazi-era looting of Jewish cultural property is trying to navigate the fragmented and still very limited amount of useful information available on the subject online. The Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project is 'creating a cross-searchable digital platform for archival documentation, research, and education on the looting of Jewish-owned cultural property by the Nazis, their allies, and collaborators.' See the website for more information.
M
M. K. ČIURLIONIS NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ART
Quite interesting.piece here. The full story remains very much untold.
V
VILNA GAON STATE MUSEUM OF JEWISH HISTORY
Lithuania's prime Jewish address is actually state owned, and has been since mass nationalisation in 1940/1941.
W
WASHINGTON PRINCIPLES
Y
YIVO
Z
ZAMLER
One who voluntarily collects things for museums.