MARKK Returns Buddha Head to Heirs as Restitution for Nazi Loot
The Museum am Rothenbaum (MARKK) has returned the head of a Buddha statue to the rightful heirs of Berlin art collector Johanna Ploschitzki on Monday. The statue was confiscated during the Nazi era and acquired by the museum.
According to the museum, Ploschitzki emigrated to the USA in 1939. Her possessions were supposed to be shipped but were confiscated by the Gestapo in 1941 at the Hamburg port and later auctioned off. The Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg at that time acquired seven East Asian art objects and 25 books from the art collector.
Ploschitzki, who changed her name to Hansi Share after remarrying in the USA, lived in Los Angeles. In 1948, she filed a restitution claim through her lawyer, which was granted as part of a reparations process. She received her objects and books from the museum in 1951, except for the Buddha head from China. The whereabouts of the head were unknown to Share, and the museum’s management at the time did not provide honest information.
In 2017, MARKK Director Barbara Plankensteiner initiated systematic provenance research projects in the museum. In 2019, it was revealed that the Buddha head was Nazi loot. Further research was needed to determine why the object was not returned in 1951. Researcher Kathrin Kleibl discovered in 2020 that the head was mistakenly listed as a pot in the restitution documents. In 2021, the museum received inquiries from Share’s heirs‘ lawyers in the USA about the Buddha head, leading to the formal restitution process.
After decades of waiting for justice, on June 10, 2024, Plankensteiner and MARKK Managing Director Marc von Itter handed over the Buddha head to two lawyers representing the heirs. Plankensteiner expressed gratitude for the funding that allowed the necessary research to be conducted. She apologized to Share-Ploschitzki’s descendants for the museum’s concealment strategies in the 1950s and regretted the long wait for justice. Lawyer Louis-Gabriel Rönsberg emphasized the symbolic and emotional significance of the restitution for his clients.
**Biography:**
Johanna Ploschitzki, also known as Hansi Share after remarrying in the USA, was a Berlin art collector whose possessions were confiscated during the Nazi era. She emigrated to the USA in 1939 and fought for the restitution of her looted artworks until her passing. Her perseverance led to the return of her objects, including the Buddha head, to her heirs as a symbol of justice and closure.