The first volume in the Provenire publication series of the Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste (German Lost Art Foundation) presents the findings and experiences of provenance research on National Socialist looted assets in Germany. Supported by ten years of research funding, it is a compilation of materials collected by German institutions that preserve cultural heritage.

The publication is arranged encyclopedically by location and by the individuals involved or affected by National Socialist plundering of cultural property. It shows provenance research’s investigative methods to be a dynamic field of research, focusing on the institutional histories of the organizations as well as on the activities and networks of the players. Various research approaches in museums, libraries and archives are represented, as well as the diversity of the "just and fair solutions" that have subsequently come about, as called for by the "Washington Principles."