Not Looted, Just Hidden: Solving the Mystery of an "Anonymous" Collection

In 2019, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum received a collection of nearly 350 household artifacts discovered under the attic floorboards of a home in Slovakia, presumed to have been hidden by Jewish families murdered in the Holocaust. Received with no ownership history, the research undertaken to identify original owners ultimately spanned dozens of archives in 14 countries on five continents. An email exchange with art historians ultimately unlocked the mystery, leading to the identification of living descendants. These events showed the synergies from shared information between art provenance researchers and Holocaust historians. Our fields often draw upon similar resources, used from different perspectives. This case study walks through the research methodology and resources used in the research while making a case for fostering closer relationships between our respective disciplines.