On the occasion of the opening of the new museum complex in 2018, the Kunsthalle Mannheim occupied itself intensively with the impacts of National Socialism on the institution. A permanent exhibition and catalogue shed light on the complete loss of over 500 works due to the seizures of "degenerate art" in 1937, but also on the propaganda exhibition that was presented in 1933, at the beginning of the National Socialists’ smear campaigns against the modern avant-garde. The book also traces the life journeys of five Jewish families from Mannheim, who, despite flight and expulsion, still remained connected with the museum as benefactors after 1945. The complicated search for art looted by the National Socialists becomes comprehensible—and also the museum’s efforts to reveal the injustices committed and, if possible, to right the wrongs.

Contributions by: Mathias Listl