The Commission for Provenance Researchand the Art Restitution Advisory BoardThe Commission for Provenance Research is the focal point for­questions regarding cultural objects expropriated in connectionwith Nazi persecution and their restitution in Austria. Its main taskis to systematically investigate the collections which come underthe Art Restitution Act. It was founded in 1998, before the lawentered into force. It is part of the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture,Civil Service and Sport and consists of administrative management,research ­coordination, the Bureau and the individual provenanceresearchers working in the museums, collections and libraries under­consideration.The provenance researchers create dossiers on questionableacquisitions. The Commission is responsible for the final version ofthe dossiers, checking on the research undertaken, the logic behind itand the scientific basis. These dossiers are then submitted to the ArtRestitution Advisory Board for consideration. The Board establisheswhether the expropriation was connected with Nazi persecution andwhether the conditions of the Art Restitution Act are met, as a basisfor its recommendation as to whether the objects should be restitutedor not.The Commission works closely with the Jewish Community ofVienna in searching for the legal successors and heirs of the originalowners, regardless of the reasons why they were persecuted by theNazi regime.Other tasks of the Commission include coordination of the workof the individual provenance researchers, answering queries andtracking down the relevant files in the Federal Monuments Authority,which keeps the files on Nazi expropriations and restitution claimsafter the war(Restitutionsmaterialien). The constant inquiries bymembers of the Commission have resulted in the creation of digitaldatabases of holdings in many archives, which are now available toall researchers.KP56