Herkomst gezocht, Origins Unknown

Thousands of art objects were sold, robbed or confiscated and ended up in Germany during World War II. After the war, the Stichting Nederlandsch Kunstbezit (SNK) returned many of the recuperated works of art to their rightful owners on behalf of the Dutch State. Nevertheless, there are still a large number of works of art in the state's custody. These constitute the Nederlands Kunstbezit-collectie (NK collection).
In October 1997, the Secretary of State for Education, Culture and Science assigned the Ekkart Committee to carry out a pilot study into the origins of a selection of artworks from this NK collection. The project office Herkomst Gezocht was founded on 1 September 1998, after the conclusion of this pilot study at the behest of the same committee and under the organisational responsibility of the Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage which has one principal task: tracing the original owners of the art objects in as far as this is possible well over 50 years after the end of World War II. The results so far can be found on this website and have been laid down in interim reports. This website allows you to search the database for art objects or family names yourself.