Germany yesterday began publishing an online list of works that were discovered in a huge art stash in a Munich flat last year and believed for the most part to have been stolen or extorted by the Nazis.

The move was welcomed by lawyers representing families whose looted art was feared gone forever. But heavy demand for the government’s Lost Art website (www.lostart.de) led to technical problems.

“No one was expecting such a storm of demand,” said a Culture Ministry spokesman. “The server was overwhelmed. The only thing to do is wait.”

A statement from the national and Bavarian regional governments said 25 works would be displayed initially on the Lost Art website, which helps establish the provenance of works seized by Germany’s Nazi regime, mostly from Jews persecuted during the Holocaust.

The government has been heavily criticised – notably by families whose relatives were robbed – for keeping silent for almost two years about the trove of 1,406 European artworks until a German magazine broke the story earlier this month.

“It’s too little, too late, but at least it’s a step in the right direction now,” said Berlin attorney Claudia von Selle.

Defending the policy of silence, government officials said they were worried about the security of the artworks and related insurance, and that authorities were conducting a confidential tax fraud probe against Cornelius Gurlitt, in whose Munich apartment the art was found.

Art by Picasso, Chagall and Otto Dix were among those on the website, according to German media. The hoard is estimated to be worth up to €1 billion and its legal status is likely to be contested.