VIDEO Detecting Deception: A Computational Approach to Detecting Nazi-looted Art

Description*: 

Researching a Rigged Game: Open Source Data & the Trade of Cultural Objects, September 14 and 15, 2023. This YouTube video transcript presents a computational method for detecting potentially Nazi-looted art by analyzing the language used in artwork provenance records. The speaker, Laurel Zuckerman, explains how counting words indicating uncertainty, unreliability, and anonymity can reveal patterns suggestive of deception, drawing inspiration from her own experience with a family artwork. A software tool is demonstrated that allows users to upload provenance data and custom lists of keywords to quantify these indicators. While acknowledging limitations and the need for further research, the approach offers a scalable and objective way to prioritize artworks for closer scrutiny regarding their wartime history.

Art collectors and the Holocaust: itineraries from birth to death

Henri Rieger, born in Sered, died in Theresienstadt

Henri Hinrichsen, born in Hamburg, died in Auschwitz

Rosa Oppenheimer, born in Berlin, died in Auschwitz

Ernst Pollack, born in Vienna, died in Theresienstadt concentration camp

Margarete Mauthner, born in Berlin, escaped Nazi Germany to die thousands of miles away in Johannesburg South Africa

Maria Altmann, born in Vienna, escaped Nazi Austria and died thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, California. 

Click on the Play Arrow 

 https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/8168334/

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How was this interactive data visualization created?

Note: this map only shows birth and death places, not the many other places these art collectors lived.

1) Gather the birth and death places of the selected art collectors and dealers, along with coordinates, latitude and longitude. (Wikidata Query)

https://w.wiki/4a4s

#Places of Death or Birth (with coordinates long and lat) for Art historians dealers collectors museum directors restorers 
SELECT DISTINCT ?place ?placeLabel ?coord ?lat ?long
WHERE 
{
  {?item wdt:P106 wd:Q1792450} UNION {?item wdt:P106 wd:Q173950} UNION {?item wdt:P106 wd:Q10732476} UNION {?item wdt:P106 wd:Q674426} UNION {?item wdt:P106 wd:Q22132694} UNION {?item wdt:P106 wd:Q2145981} 
  
?item (wdt:P20|wdt:P19) ?place.
   ?place wdt:P625 ?coord.
   ?place p:P625 ?statement.
   ?statement psv:P625 ?coordinate_node .
  ?coordinate_node wikibase:geoLatitude ?lat .
  ?coordinate_node wikibase:geoLongitude ?long .

  SERVICE wikibase:label { bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "[AUTO_LANGUAGE],en". } # Helps get the label in your language, if not, then en language
}

Download the result of the query. This will provide the location data file for Flourish.

2) Gather the names, descriptions, birth and death places and dates (as well as additional information) about the art collectors. 

Link to Wikidata query used in this data visualisation with birth and death places

https://w.wiki/4Zsq

https://query.wikidata.org/embed.html#%23Art%20historians%20dealers%20collectors%20museum%20directors%20restorers%20with%20significant%20event%20of%20Aryanization%20or%20claim%20for%20restitution%20of%20artwork%0ASELECT%20DISTINCT%20%3Fitem%20%3FitemLabel%20%3FitemDescription%20%3Fbirthplace%20%3FbirthplaceLabel%20%3Fdeathplace%20%3FdeathplaceLabel%0AWHERE%20%0A%7B%0A%20%20%7B%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP106%20wd%3AQ1792450%7D%20UNION%20%7B%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP106%20wd%3AQ173950%7D%20UNION%20%7B%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP106%20wd%3AQ10732476%7D%20UNION%20%7B%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP106%20wd%3AQ674426%7D%20UNION%20%7B%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP106%20wd%3AQ22132694%7D%20UNION%20%7B%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP106%20wd%3AQ2145981%7D%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%7B%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP793%20wd%3AQ664017.%7D%20UNION%20%7B%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP793%20wd%3AQ107614552.%7D%0A%20%20%0A%20%20%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP20%20%3Fdeathplace%3B%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20wdt%3AP19%20%3Fbirthplace.%0A%0A%0A%20%20SERVICE%20wikibase%3Alabel%20%7B%20bd%3AserviceParam%20wikibase%3Alanguage%20%22%5BAUTO_LANGUAGE%5D%2Cen%22.%20%7D%20%23%20Helps%20get%20the%20label%20in%20your%20language%2C%20if%20not%2C%20then%20en%20language%0A%7D

3) Select a data visualization template in Flourish 

Selected template 

Connections globe4.0.0

4) Upload two data files into Flourish, a file with the geographical names and locations, and a file with the birth and death places of the art collectors and dealers selected

5) Format (still in progress) and publish

DATASET: Art Historians Wikidata Dbpedia Viaf GNB ULAN

DATASET Query Run Date: September 20, 2018

Resources for Linked Open Data: Art Historians in Wikidata and Wikipedia with IDs, birth, death 

DOWNLOAD CSV ART HISTORIANS


DOWNLOAD GOOGLE SPREADSHEET ART HISTORIANS


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Sparql Query in Wikidata that, for a Wikidata item, derives the DBpedia ID from Wikipedia in English. *

Note: This query shows only those art historians who have both a Wikidata and a Wikipedia entry in English. (The results are different for each language)
The Dataset includes, for people with "occupation" of "art historian" the DBpedia URL, WIKIDATA ID, VIAF, ULAN, BNF, GND, Birth and Death Date, and the Library of Congress ID where available. 

Number of records: 2661

Wikidata Sparql Query

PREFIX schema:

PREFIX schema:

PREFIX schema: # Get DBpedia URIs for Wikidata objects by converting them from Wikipedia URLs SELECT ?dbpediaId ?item ?VIAF_ID ?ULAN_ID ?BnF_ID ?GND_ID ?date_of_birth ?date_of_death ?Library_of_Congress_authority_ID WHERE { ?item wdt:P106 wd:Q1792450. ?sitelink schema:about ?item. ?sitelink schema:isPartOf . BIND(URI(CONCAT("http://dbpedia.org/resource/", SUBSTR(STR(?sitelink), 31))) AS ?dbpediaId) OPTIONAL { ?item wdt:P214 ?VIAF_ID. } OPTIONAL { ?item wdt:P245 ?ULAN_ID. } OPTIONAL { ?item wdt:P268 ?BnF_ID. } OPTIONAL { ?item wdt:P227 ?GND_ID. } OPTIONAL { ?item wdt:P569 ?date_of_birth. } OPTIONAL { ?item wdt:P570 ?date_of_death. } OPTIONAL { ?item wdt:P244 ?Library_of_Congress_authority_ID. } OPTIONAL { } OPTIONAL { } OPTIONAL { } } LIMIT 4000


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* many thanks to the developer