Berliner Skulpturenfund

"Entartete Kunst" im Bombenschutt

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  Emy Roeder, „Schwangere“, 1918; Karel Niestrath, „Frommer Mann“, 1924; Otto Freundlich, „Kopf“, 1925 (v.l.n.r.)

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  Otto Baum, „Stehendes Mädchen“, 1930; Marg Moll, „Tänzerin“, um 1930; Naum Slutzky, „Weibliche Büste“, um 1930; Karl Ehlers, „Mädchen mit Traube“, 1933; Gustav H. Wolff, „Stehende Gewandfigur“, 1925; Karl Knappe, „Hagar“, 1923 (v.l.n.r.)

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  Ausgrabung im August 2010. Am Grubenrand rechts: Karel Niestrath, „Die Einfältigen“; Otto Baum, „Stehendes Mädchen“; Marg Moll, „Tänzerin“. Am Grubenrand Mitte: Otto Freundlich, „Kopf“

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  „Weibliche Büste“ von Naum Slutzky bei der Wiederauffindung im Oktober 2010

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  Naum Slutzky, „Weibliche Büste“, aktueller Zustand 2010

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  Naum Slutzky, „Weibliche Büste“, Originalzustand 1931

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  Ausstellung „Entartete Kunst“, München 1937, Dada-Wand. Mitte: Richard Haizmann, „Figur“; ganz rechts: Marg Moll, „Tänzerin“

Archaeological excavations conducted in front of the Rotes Rathaus in 2010 unearthed a real surprise. A total of 16 sculptures from the Classical Modernist period were recovered from a basement filled with bomb debris. Soon after their recovery, it became clear that the sculptures were works of art long believed to be lost, which had been defamed and confiscated by the Nazis as “degenerate art.”
Brought together by fate and marked by abuse and destruction, the “Berlin Sculpture Find,” discovered in 2010 during archaeological excavations across from the Rotes Rathaus, has become a globally recognized symbol that, more powerfully than many intact works of art, brings to mind the persecution of modern art by the Nazi dictatorship. After numerous exhibitions in Germany and abroad, it is now on view in Berlin again for the first time.
The Discovery and the Mystery of the “Berlin Sculpture Find”
Königstraße, now Rathausstraße, was once densely built-up and, until the war, counted among Berlin’s liveliest residential and commercial streets. Extensive excavations took place here beginning in the fall of 2009 prior to the construction of the new subway station at the Rotes Rathaus. In 2010, while excavating the basement of the war-damaged building at Königstraße 50, sixteen sculptures were discovered in the bomb rubble. The connection between the artworks and the site of the discovery was initially completely unclear. Soon, however, the surprising results of the archaeological, historical, and art-historical research made international headlines. The identification of Emy Roeder’s “Pregnant Woman” in September 2010 marked the beginning of the solution to the mystery of the excavation finds. Created by fourteen artists between 1913 and 1933, all sixteen sculptures were part of the collection of “degenerate art” confiscated from German art museums in 1937; seven of which were presented in a defamatory manner at various venues of the propaganda exhibition of the same name. Their display is partially documented in photographs. The spectacular rediscovery of these artworks, once believed lost, simultaneously brings modern-day archaeology into focus, a field that has gained immense significance in recent years as a source for reconstructing historical events.
Back in Berlin
With the presentation of the find in the Greek Courtyard of the Neues Museum, the sculptures have been a media sensation since November 2010. As Berlin archaeological finds, they had been transferred to the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, where they are still kept today. Following an examination of their legal status, the artworks became the property of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2012.
As part of special exhibitions, the “Berlin Sculpture Find” has been shown at fifteen locations in Germany and Luxembourg since 2012; in addition, groups or individual works are regularly loaned out domestically and abroad, most recently for the major special exhibition “L’art ‘dégénéré’” at the Musée Picasso in Paris. With the new installation at PETRI, the new home of Berlin Archaeology, the find will be presented in context and near its discovery site for the first time since 2019.
Accompanying the exhibition, a brochure will be published featuring short biographies of the respective artists and presenting the artworks along with their eventful history.
A special exhibition of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.Translated with DeepL

Runtime: from October 2025

Price: €6.00

Reduced price: €3.00

Reduced price info: Children and young people up to 18 years free

Takes place here:

• Petri Berlin