Stefan Kurz
Stefan Kurz (*1985) is a historian, political scientist and reserve officer. Since 2013, he has been involved in various exhibition projects, including as (co-)curator. In 2020, he took over the provenance research responsibilities at the HGM/MHI and has been a member of the Austrian Commission for Provenance Research ever since. Besides, he has also conducted research on military history topics and is investigating the history of the k. u. k. Heeresmuseum during the First World War as part of his almost finished dissertation project. His research focuses on the military history of the late Habsburg Monarchy from 1866 onwards, military diplomacy, the history of the Volkswehr and the Austrian Army of the First Republic as well as provenance research and museum history.
Areas of Research
- Military History of Austria-Hungary (1866/67 – 1918)
- First World War
- Military Diplomacy
- History of the Volkswehr and the Armed Forces of the Austrian First Republic
- Museum and collection history
- Provenance Research
Current research
In the area of provenance research, the Austrian Art Restitution Act 1998 requires continuous systematic research activity and, derived from this, the preparation of detailed case reports that include biographical and collection-historical research. They are to be submitted to the Art Restitution Advisory Board and can subsequently lead to restitution. In this respect, several case studies are already scheduled for the current and coming years but can only be announced after being discussed by the Art Restitution Advisory Board. In addition, in the next few years, the examination of war booty and war-related collecting during the two world wars will increasingly have to be taken into account in the area of provenance research.
In addition, the study of the Austro-Hungarian military attaché system is currently being continued with the case of Austro-Greek military relations. At the centre of the military history research activities, however, is the project on the history of the ‘k. u. k. Heeresmuseum’. This will be the first empirical study of the history of the museum in the period 1903 to 1918 based on archival sources. It will critically scrutinise the assumptions that have been handed down in the literature to date and significantly deepen and consolidate our knowledge. In addition to military and museum history, the research findings will provide reference points for biographical research as well as the examination of the translocation of cultural assets in occupied territories, art production and the culture of remembrance in connection with the First World War.
Another project for the coming years will be research into the history of the Austrian Armed Forces in the interwar period.
Main publications (selection)
Stefan Kurz, Eine Reservistenpfeife und das Schicksal des Sammlers Hanns Fischl, in: Birgit Kirchmayr – Pia Schölnberger (Ed.), „Restituiert“. 25 Jahre Kunstrückgabegesetz in Österreich (= Schriftenreihe der Kommission für Provenienzforschung, Vol. 9), Vienna 2023, p. 376 – 383.
Stefan Kurz, Provenienzforschung im Heeresgeschichtlichen Museum – Zwei Exemplarische Fälle, in: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Ed.), Viribus Unitis. Jahresbericht 2021 des Heeresgeschichtlichen Museums, Vienna 2022, p. 66 – 83.
Stefan Kurz, Die Volkswehr. Provisorium zwischen Politik und Landesverteidigung, in: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Ed.), Ende und Aufbruch. Die politischen Folgen des Ersten Weltkrieges (=Acta Austro-Polonica, Vol. 12), Vienna 2020, S. 43 – 82.
Stefan Kurz, Das russische Offizierskorps in Krieg und Revolution 1904 – 1906. Wahrnehmungen österreichisch-ungarischer Offiziere (=Schriften des Heeresgeschichtlichen Museums, Vol. 20, Vienna 2015).
Links
https://hgm-at.academia.edu/StefanKurz