ABSTRACT
During military conflicts, museum employees are confronted with particular challenges. They must continue their regular museum tasks, including a commitment to education for example in exhibitions and lectures, while also preserving the objects under their care, protecting them against damage, destruction and loss. This leads to a constant conflict of conscience. This challenge is particularly evident in the work of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections). During the Second World War, the directors of the associated museums tried everything possible to keep the collections open to visitors as long as possible while also protecting the objects. Early on, they packed and secured the most precious works, presenting less valuable objects to the public. But eventually the museums were closed and they had to move the collections outside of the city. How can a museum function when the objects are not present? Three exhibitions in Dresden in 1943 and 1944 demonstrate how museum directors and curators pursued different strategies in their efforts to fulfil the educational mission of their now-empty museums while also participating actively in the home front. These examples testify the work of museums under the difficult conditions of war and their progressive subtle ideologisation during the National Socialism in Germany.
