Regarding A.I., I am fascinated by what it can do for the individual. Honestly, I am not sure how the advanced versions of A.I. work, but I marvel at all the advantages that can be derived from it. Yes, I know there is another side to it, but that is not for me to delve into now.
As far as Nazi war loot is concerned, my parents, their relatives, and art dealerships lost works of art during WW II. If you look on the internet for Guelph Treasure or Welfenschatz online, you will find a lot about my case that went to the Supreme Court (and lost).
Therefore, I became extremely interested when I saw an article titled “This New A.I. Chatbot Hunts Nazi-Looted Art” by Vittoria Benzine. The Center for Art Law estimates that during the Third Reich (1933-1945), Nazis stole or forced the sale of 650,000 works of art, though far more have been reported by other sources. You may have heard of the Monuments Men (and Women) who went into the salt mines and museums in search of Nazi-looted art. They identified a lot, but there was much more that was never found. It is estimated that roughly 100,000 works remain at large. Here is an image of an Édouard Manet discovered in a German salt mine.
Researchers at Santa Clara University (SCU) have created a Provenance Research Assistant, which is a chat box to help search through millions of records in order to figure out which items may be missing and where they are today. I can’t imagine how many works of art have changed hands over the past 81 years. So, individuals who have bought works of art in good faith might inadvertently have acquired Nazi War-Loot. Though many may have known, or come to suspect, that their families may still retain these works. Here is one such story which ended well ...
As far as Nazi war loot is concerned, my parents, their relatives, and art dealerships lost works of art during WW II. If you look on the internet for Guelph Treasure or Welfenschatz online, you will find a lot about my case that went to the Supreme Court (and lost).
Therefore, I became extremely interested when I saw an article titled “This New A.I. Chatbot Hunts Nazi-Looted Art” by Vittoria Benzine. The Center for Art Law estimates that during the Third Reich (1933-1945), Nazis stole or forced the sale of 650,000 works of art, though far more have been reported by other sources. You may have heard of the Monuments Men (and Women) who went into the salt mines and museums in search of Nazi-looted art. They identified a lot, but there was much more that was never found. It is estimated that roughly 100,000 works remain at large. Here is an image of an Édouard Manet discovered in a German salt mine.
https://www.geraldstiebel.com/2018/10/nwl-nazi-war-loot.html
This image shows a trove of objects recovered ... the photo was probably taken in a museum storeroom. How can we know who they belonged to?
Here is an image of General Dwight D. Eisenhower viewing some of the art that was retrieved by the Monuments Men.
In her article, Ms. Benzine quotes Professor Lu, “Our goal wasn’t to replace provenance researchers. It was to make decades of complex archival records much easier to explore through natural conversation.” Remember, these culled records would be in several languages with abbreviations and terms that might not have been understood by the Nazi’s themselves.
Just believing that an object may have been taken is not the evidence needed to retrieve it. This is just the first step in repatriation. The database can only point the way to a long process I traced in the story included in the first link of this Missive.
Just believing that an object may have been taken is not the evidence needed to retrieve it. This is just the first step in repatriation. The database can only point the way to a long process I traced in the story included in the first link of this Missive.
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