The best part of the Declaration of Independence is spelled out towards the end where the conditions are set forth for justifying overthrowing an abusive ruler. Wondering how many people have actually read this part. It is inspirational and, dare we say, timeless.😎

You don't have to wait for historians to come up with a complex definition of what a "collaborator" is and looks like. This latest effort based on a careful examination of what made possible the Argentine dictatorship in the 1970s provides a compelling answer: Mediocrity! www.zu.de/newsroom/ter...

Book Talk | Making a Career in Dictatorship | Zeppelin Universität

The Secret Logic Behind Repression And Coups: Book Talk with Prof Dr Adam Scharpf, University of Copenhagen

zu.de

Recent "blockbuster auctions" at Christie's and Sotheby's confirm that we definitely live in a highly classist society. Extraordinary to think that works of once marginalized artists are now adornments for the elites. Simultaneously funny and disgusting. TGIF!!! www.artforum.com/news/christi...

Christie’s Auction Rakes in $1.1 Billion as Pollock Sells For Triple Record Price

Blue-chip auction house Christie's pulled in $1.1 billion in back-to-back sales held May 18, with many works achieving record-setting prices.

artforum.com

As in the past nine years, the ARCA and HARP partnership is offering a special Conference+Provenance Research Course bundle from 19-26 June 2026 in Amelia (Umbria). The course lasts a week and is highly interactive. Write to programmes@artcrimeresearch.org www.artcrimeresearch.org/provenance-a...

Congrats to Katalin Karikó! That kind of persistence in the face of institutional denigration and marginalization is admirable. mRNA research saved countless lives. Unfortunately, Karikó's story happens all the time, like a bad habit that humans can't kick--petty jealousy in the face of genius.

Dr. Mar@boldnewme.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Katalin Karikó is one of the most extraordinary scientific stories of this era. A girl from a modest Hungarian household helped develop technology that saved millions of lives worldwide. In 2023, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries that enabled effective mRNA vaccines.

Best of luck! Arduous and painstaking exercise.

Arolsen Archives@arolsenarchives.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Behind the scenes at the Arolsen Archives: Millions of documents need to be repacked in preparation for their move to the new archive building. We use boxes and folders that conform to archival standards and protect the fragile paper from damaging environmental factors such as light and moisture.

For the sake of argument, why treat "degenerate" works that you are about to incinerate with all the respect due to works which you display for anyone to admire for possible sale--maybe? Paradox of Nazi destruction? And why photograph them and print their image on expensive photographic paper?

Filmmaker Lars von Trier's Nazi moment. Was it provocation? was he sincere? Or simply plain naively tone-deaf? Either way it was deeply disturbing. Maybe one should skip his films. If anything, he is an idiot despite his brilliance behind the camera. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWFY...

Lars Von Trier: "I Understand Hitler"

YouTube video by Associated Press

youtube.com

Quick update: the Goudstikker painting was recovered. Congratulations to all who participated in this difficult process.

plundered art@plunderedart.bsky.social · 5mo ago

@artdetective.bsky.social Arthur Brand helps bring a looted Goudstikker painting to the light of day in a Dutch Nazi officer's family home no less. And an unrepentant family at that. Only significant external pressure can ensure restitution. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

@artdetective.bsky.social Arthur Brand helps bring a looted Goudstikker painting to the light of day in a Dutch Nazi officer's family home no less. And an unrepentant family at that. Only significant external pressure can ensure restitution. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Portrait looted by Nazis found in home of Dutch SS leader’s family

Toon Kelder artwork from famed Goudstikker collection resurfaces with descendants of Hendrik Seyffardt

theguardian.com

France now has a law that facilitates the return of all "art" stolen during the "colonial era" and stored in French museums. Too bad the French government could not extend that privilege to Nazi looted art in same institutions. Another 100 years might convince them? www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/a...

France Passes Law Easing Process of Returning Looted Art

nytimes.com

"The Carnegie International looks back at itself." In the 1930s, under the leadership of Homer Saint-Gaudens, the Carnegie made a deal with the devil by purging anti-Nazi Expressionists from its annual show to appease Goebbels while exhibiting Nazi-approved talent. hyperallergic.com/the-carnegie...

The Carnegie International Looks Back at Itself

The 59th iteration captures some of the excitement of earlier exhibitions, providing vital commentary on issues of authoritarianism and militarism.

hyperallergic.com

8 May 1945--V-E Day. Victory over Nazi Germany. Whoopee! Meanwhile, war with Japan continued relentlessly. The Cold War's first battlefield (Greece) was in full bloom, Nazi/Fascist war criminals escaped while their victims roamed Europe shell-shocked, traumatized. www.live5news.com/video/2026/0...

This Day in History: May 8, 1945: World celebrates V-E Day as Nazi Germany surrenders

live5news.com

Oray Museum displays "unclaimed works" that once belonged to a Jewish collector murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Only problem: there is a claimant. Also, 1941 is too early for anyone to be deported to Auschwitz and murdered there. Facts, please. www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

Musée d’Orsay displays Renoir and Degas works looted by Nazis

Unclaimed artworks thought to have been stolen or forcibly sold during the occupation of France are the stars of a new gallery

thetimes.com

excellent taste.

Doug Pickard @trackerdoug.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Top 20 vinyl albums I bought and played to death on a turntable. #2

During WWII, Matisse worked in Nice at the Hotel Regina where he had set up his studio. In 1942 Matisse lent his voice to the wartime collaborationist government in Vichy via radio interviews that he consented to give. Meanwhile, his paintings were being confiscated from Jewish collections in Paris.

Henri Matisse@henrimatisse.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Ochre Head, Lozenge Background, 1942 https://botfrens.com/collections/48/contents/17070

Flanders, the wealthiest region of Belgium, establishes a permanent restitution commission for the return of Nazi looted art. It's been long in coming, but it's never too late to do the right thing. Belgium played its role in the Nazi looted art market. www.belganewsagency.eu/flanders-est...

Flanders establishes commission for restitution of Nazi-looted art

Flanders is establishing a permanent commission for the restitution of Nazi-looted art, the government decided earlier this week, according to the...

belganewsagency.eu

The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art is looking for an Associate Director of Provenance Research and Object Histories. A curatorial-level post. trustcareers.si.edu/en/postings/...

Associate Director for Provenance Research and Object Histories (Museum Curator), IS-1015-14

Job Opening: Associate Director for Provenance Research and Object Histories (Museum Curator), IS-1015-14 at National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC.

trustcareers.si.edu

The rush to mediocrity. Killing off art schools will not destroy or minimize our love of and commitment to art, the creative process, and artistic production. hyperallergic.com/the-death-of...

The Death of the Art School

The rampant corporatization and "administrification" of American higher-education institutions has turned students into mere consumers.

hyperallergic.com

The art restitution discussion needs to be reframed within the context of cultural and human rights, conflict resolution and transitional justice. In that regard, aggrieved parties should determine how their displaced objects ought to be treated in public and private collections.

Economic warfare can be a constructive force for change in the international arena. Trade agreements were used against countries trading with the Axis. Cambodia was recently "punished" for violating human rights. It all depends on who wields the stick. theconversation.com/cambodia-pun...

Cambodia punished by EU over human rights violations – through limits to its trade access

For the first time, the EU has withdrawn some trade preferences for a developing country on its Everything But Arms tariffs.

theconversation.com

Afrika Korps, Nazi Germany (1941-1943) Africa Corps, Russian Ministry of Defense, operating mostly in Mali (since 2023). Funny (or not) how history repeats itself. www.france24.com/fr/afrique/2...

Mali : les rebelles touaregs disent contrôler "totalement" Kidal après un accord avec les Russes

Les rebelles touaregs ont déclaré dimanche avoir conclu un "accord" permettant aux soldats russes de l'Africa Corps de se retirer de la ville de Kidal, dans le nord du Mali, qu'ils disent "désormais"…

france24.com

Granted. Your request applies to all countries affected directly or indirectly by the Nazi years. Their withholding of archival documents to protect past misdeeds must stop so the full story can be told. Invoking sources and methods is as stale an excuse as the "good faith" defense.

Open Art Data@openartdata.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The Netherlands has a terrible history of covering up Nazi looted art. It’s time to open all the archives and publish all the research and all the documents - not shift to yet another secretive organization/foundation/panel. #Nazi #Holland #art #loot

Controversy over the proposed transfer of the NK collection of unclaimed cultural objects looted from Jews in the Netherlands during WWII, to a foundation overseeing their care and curate their management. Some want the objects sold to benefit the Jewish community. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/a...

Dutch Panel Designs Plan to Deal With ‘Orphaned’ Nazi-Looted Art

nytimes.com

This summer, the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) is proud to offer a bundle-annual conference+week-long workshop on provenance research. The conference is slated for 19-21 June 2026 and the workshop starts the following week. www.artcrimeresearch.org/provenance-a...

An annual international cultural heritage and provenance research conference is scheduled at Amelia (Italy) on 19-21 June 2026, under the auspices of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA). www.artcrimeresearch.org/annual-inter...

Things have not changed in Madrid since the Civil War of 1936-1939. What is so complicated about transferring a painting like "Guernica" to the place of historical martyrdom that it symbolizes? Franco and his followers never forgave the Basques and the Republicans. www.beauxarts.com/grand-format...

Pourquoi « Guernica », tableau iconique de Picasso sur les horreurs de la guerre, déchire l'Espagne et ravive les conflits identitaires

La demande par le Pays basque de se voir prêter la célèbre toile de Picasso génère un vif conflit identitaire avec Madrid, qui s'est opposé à tout déplacement de l’œuvre.

beauxarts.com

The Holocaust Museum in DC has been outed as engaging in self-censorship and historical revisionism in order to assuage the gods of war. A significant chunk of the museum's budget comes from the federal government. History ranks second to politics of exclusion. www.politico.com/news/2026/04...

‘Proactively fall in line’: Holocaust Memorial Museum quietly changed content after Trump returned to office

Two former employees said they believed the museum was altering its content preemptively to avoid unwanted negative attention from the Trump administration.

politico.com

Cambodia announced that a private collector in Asia has returned 20 stone and bronze cultural artefacts to the country. "We are profoundly grateful for the return of these souls to their homeland," commented the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.

The Capital Jewish Museum of Washington, DC, offers an exhibit on one of the darkest chapters in American history: the McCarthy era and the imposition of a "Blacklist" on American citizens whose views collided with those of Joseph McCarthy and his ilk. capitaljewishmuseum.org/exhibition/b...