Systematic provenance research in theVolkskundemuseum WienSince the Nazi period, staff at the Volkskundemuseum Wien havebeen aware that among the objects held by the museum, a consider-able number were acquired unlawfully. The relatively few restitutionsduring the following half century did little to change this situation. Inthe 2000s, the staff became increasingly insistent that research andrestitution should be increased, particularly in the wake of the passingof the Art Restitution Act and the establishment of the Commissionfor Provenance Research which led to the systematic investigationof the archives and holdings of federal museums.The staff of the Volkskundemuseum Wien did not wish to beparty any longer to injustice. We did not wish to have objects inour c­ ollections that did not belong there because they had beenextorted, stolen or expropriated from their original owners. Theseobjects should no longer be used in the museum’s publications and­exhibitions uncommented but should rather be restituted. Many ofthe original owners were persecuted and murdered or had died inthe intervening years. However the expropriated objects still belongedto them and are now therefore the property of their heirs and­descendants.The librarian and museum staff members working in the col-lections began to search the inventories and accession files in thearchive and library accession registers, initially for the years 1938to 1945. Suspicious objects were entered in the digital inventory,if they were not already listed there, and designated“questionable­acquisition”. Around 2,500 objects were marked in this way. It wason this basis that the provenance researcher from the Commissionwas able to start working at the Volkskundemuseum Wien in 2015.­Provenance research is far from complete t but is on-going.KP68