Munich Roots. A Report
From November 4-8, 2024, the Münchner Stadtmuseum hosted 18 descendants of various ages from a total of eight Jewish families. They had come from as far afield as Argentina, America, the UK, Israel, Italy and Germany for the restitution of silverware confiscated under the “silver levy” of 1939.
In spring 2023, the Münchner Stadtmuseum’s provenance researcher, Dr. Regina Prinz, embarked on a research project to trace the heirs and rightful owners of 140 silver objects confiscated under the 1939 “silver levy”, and return their property. Prior to this project, extensive research had been carried out with the Bavarian National Museum. This, for the first time, allowed us to link 140 silver objects to a total of 46 family names.
Since that time, the Münchner Stadtmuseum has been working tirelessly to trace the descendants of these families so that these objects can be returned to their legitimate owners. Our extensive, international search for the heirs was made possible thanks to funding from the German Lost Art Foundation and the kind support of the Holocaust Claims Processing Office in New York. Eighty-six silver objects have already been returned to 26 families, and a further 15 cases are pending.
The Silverware Project
Dr. Regina Prinz and Dr. Marius Wittke and their project team, ably assisted by Rebecca Friedman (Holocaust Claims Processing Office, New York), contacted over 30 families around the world in the course of this project. The families were intrigued and had a whole host of questions, wanting to know where their ancestors had lived, what they had done for a living and where they were buried. This was the inspiration for the decision to invite the families to the city of Munich itself to answer their questions and give them an individual, firsthand insight into their “Munich roots”. It was the first time that some of our guests had ever visited their ancestors’ erstwhile homeland of Germany and the city of Munich.
A Week Spent Making Acquaintances and Undertaking Remembrance Work
The Münchner Stadtmuseum collaborated with eleven partners to put together a diverse, five-day program of workshops, talks and guided tours. It offered their invitees a deeply moving opportunity to engage with their past.
It kicked off with an evening reception at the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, where guests had the opportunity to make each other's acquaintance for the first time and meet our cooperation partners in person.
One very emotional moment at the opening reception was when two branches of the family who had never met, one from the United States and the other from Argentina, were introduced for the first time. “Munich Roots” had offered them this opportunity.
Tracing the Past in the Archives
Workshops at the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Staatsarchiv München and Staatsarchiv München, formed the centerpiece of the week’s activities and allowed participants to gain new insights into their family histories.
After an introductory overview of how the archive was organized, the types of material it held, and their relevance to family research, the eight families then had the opportunity to handle, browse and even study their ancestors’ personal documents. They received individual assistance in reading and translating them and in grasping their significance in context.
At the Staatsarchiv München and the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, participants were able to work with documents from the Nazi era and the post-war years, including lists of assets and compensation and restitution documents. These records paint a vivid picture of the property that was lost and the protracted, bureaucratic restitution processes that often hampered its return.
The Staatsarchiv München holds documents such as registration forms and registry office records and these allowed the families to piece together their ancestors’ daily lives. Some invitees were excited to discover photos of unknown family members. This made for particularly memorable moments.
The Archives were also a treasure trove of material that bore witness to the persecution individuals suffered at the hands of the Nazis. This included documents relating to the “silver levy”, for example a notebook with the addresses of all Jews subject to it. Several families also managed to find duplicates of the police identification cards issued to German Jews, with portrait photos of their ancestors.
The participants were also invited to bring their own documents to the workshop at the Stadtarchiv München.
Feelings of Connectedness
The visits to the family graves at the Jewish Cemetery and to the Ohel Jakob Synagogue were also a catalyst for some highly emotional moments. Our guests visited the synagogue’s “corridor of remembrance”, to search for their ancestors’ names in Georg Soanca-Pollak’s installation. Its backlit glass panels bear the names of over 4,500 Munich Jews who were deported or murdered during the Nazi era.
The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site was kind enough to open its archive and allow our guests to view their ancestors’ individual entries. One participant found an original document recording the fact that his father had been held in Dachau for six weeks in 1938 after “Kristallnacht”, the Night of Broken Glass.
Learning About the City's History and Visiting its Museums
Our guests were introduced to the history of the Nazi era during their visits to the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism and the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (Central Institute for Art History), and during a special themed tour of the city.
Tours of "Picture Stories. Portraits of Munich Jews", an exhibitionat the Jewish Museum Munichand "Jugendstil. Made in Munich",a Münchner Stadtmuseum exhibitioncurrently running at the Kunsthalle, and a visit to view the current refurbishment of the Münchner Stadtmuseum completed this program.
From Past to Future
A final workshop with five short presentations offered our guests ideas about how to continue their family research and remembrance work after their return from “Munich Roots”. They could, for example, apply for an "Erinnerungszeichen" – a special memorial to individual victims of Nazi persecution (Barbara Hutzelmann, Public History) or follow other interesting projects about Jewish life and cultural heritage in Bavaria (Meyrav Levy, Landesstelle für die nichtstaatlichen Museen in Bayern – Bavarian Office for Non-State Museums). Rebecca Friedman from the Holocaust Claims Processing Office in New York, who had accompanied the group for the whole week, offered them further assistance with the research.
Two talks provided inspirational paths to remembering one’s family history and suggested potential joint initiatives for the future. Antonia Cox presented her recent book about the letters that her father, Edgar Feuchtwanger, had written from exile in 1939. Jamie Hall spoke about the genesis and establishment of “The Wallach Project”, a non-profit organization founded by descendants of the famous Munich folk costume store’s owners.
The workshop was also attended by Dr. Ludwig Spaenle, the Bavarian State Government’s Commissioner for Jewish Life and Against Anti-Semitism, for Remembrance Work and Historical Heritage, who gave a personal welcome address to the participants.
Closing Reception
Some families had kindly decided to donate restituted items to the Jewish Museum and the Münchner Stadtmuseum. They were especially keen for the history of the items and the tragic fates of their individual families to be made available to the public. Individual family members gave moving speeches when presenting the silverware items during the closing reception at the Jewish Museum.
New Format
Small as some of the items of silverware might have been, they managed to act as catalysts and set in motion a process for the families to find out more about their past. These objects, as brokers of emotional experiences, have encouraged them to look back and explore the history of Munich through their own family. At the same time, they have opened a door to the future, generating new experiences and creating connections all over the world. This project has proved so successful that there are now plans to repeat it in 2025 with a new group of families.
The Münchner Stadtmuseum would like to extend its special thanks to its eleven cooperation partners for their support:
- Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv
- Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria
- Jewish Museum Munich
- Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site
- Landesstelle für die nichtstaatlichen Museen in Bayern
- Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism
- Public History München
- Staatsarchiv München
- Stadtarchiv München
- Lenbachhaus Munich
- Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte
Read more about the workshop at Hauptstaatsarchiv
Plan Your Visit
Opening hours
Interim exhibition What the City. Perspectives of Munich in the former armory
Tuesday – Sunday 11am – 7pm
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The rest of the museum is currently closed due to the general refurbishment.
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80331 München
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