Nazi Art Looting Networks: Adolf Wuester

Zoom on a few of the individuals in Adolf Wuester's network (according to the Art Looting Investigation Unit in 1946)

Abels Brothers, Hermann	Cologne, Komoedienstrasse 26	Dealers	Specialists in 16th to 19th century painting and graphic arts
Bammann, Hans	Dusseldorf, Blumenstrasse 11	Dealer, drafted into the army in 1942 and transferred to the ERR in Paris in December 1943 at the request of Lohse and Wuester	Believed to have acted as agent for art purchases in France for museums of Dusseldorf, Cologne, Aachen and Bonn
Breker, Prof Arno	Starnberg (Buchhof uber Pocha), Bavaria	Celebrated Nazi sculptor, often in Paris during the war	Took part in arranging tour of French artists through Germany
Goepel, Dr Erhard	Leipzig, Stieghtstrasse 76	Official Linz agent and buyer in Holland under Posse and Voss	Bought extensively in Holland and also travelled frequently in Belgium and France
Knothe, Dr		Secretary of the German Embassy, Paris and reported to have worked with Wuester on art matters for von Ribbentrop and possibly Goebbels
Kuetgens, Dr Felix	Aachen, Heinrichsallee 18	Member of Kunstschutz, Paris	Mentioned as also in charge of Kunstschutz in Serbia and Greece
Loewenisch, Albert	Cologne Paris, 8 ave Victor Massel	Purchasing agent for the Gauleitung Dusseldorf-Koln-Aachen-Bonn, and one of the official representatives of German museums in France	Contact of Hermssen, Wuester, Weinmueller and Lange
May, Frau Wismer	Zurich, Seefeldstrasse 90	Colleague of Wuester in the art section of the German Embassy, Paris	Ardent Nazi and well connected in high Party circles
Mohnen, Wilhelm Jacob		German national	Captured in Rome, 5 February 1945, after taking refuge in the Vatican
Muthmann, Dr		Director of Museum of Krefeld	In contact with Wuester, Paul Cailleux, Dr Kurt Martin and Dr Hopp
Pfannstiel, Arthur	Paris	German painter and dealer, resident in Paris before the war	Member of staff of ERR, Bordeaux and of GIS
Rademacher, Dr Bernard	Bonn	Assistant at the Landesmuseum, Bonn	Agent for art purchases in France
von Waldthausen		In charge of interior decoration of the German Embassy, Paris, 1940	Assisted by Wuester, 1942
Wuester, Adolf	Bernau, Bavaria Bonn Schloesel	Painter and amateur dealer, long-time pre-war resident of Paris	Chief agent in France for acquisition of works of art for Ribbentrop
Blot	Paris	Dealer, dealt with Wuester
Cailleux, Paul	Paris, 136 rue du Fbg St Honore	Dealer in contact with Rochlitz, Wuester, Frau Dietrich, Haberstock	Knew Lohse, who claims to have freed his wife from a concentration camp
Cloots, F G	Paris, 14 rue de l’Abbaye	Small dealer specialising in 17th century Dutch painting	In contact with Wuester and Hofer
Gairac, Georges	Paris, 17 rue de Seine	French art dealer who sold to Wuester and Bornheim
Gerard, Raphael Louis Felix	Paris, 4 ave de Messine	Dealt in confiscated pictures; main source of supply to Wuester and other German buyers	Indicted by French Government (Seine Tribunal, Judge Frapier)
de Haucke, Cesar Monge	Paris, 14 rue du Cherche-Midi	Dealer active in Paris and New York before the war	Active in Paris during the occupation; in contact with Wuester, Haberstock and Hofer; documentary evidence in Unit files
Kalebjian, Irene	Paris, 52 bis ave d’Iena	Schenker documents indicate sales to German buyers	One of Wuester’s chief sources
Leegenhoek, M O	Paris, 1 rue de Rennes/230 blvd Raspail	Belgian national	Prominent restorer and subsequent dealer who sold extensively to Hofer, Lohse, Wendland, Wuester, Dietrich, Haberstock, Miedl, Goepel and the great majority of important German purchasers
Mandl, Victor	Paris, 9 rue du Boetie	German refugee dealer, formerly active in Berlin	Highly important figure in German art purchases in Paris
Montag, Charles	Sevres Meudon Val Fleury, 72 rue de Paris	Swiss; naturalised French	Artist and dealer
Renand, Georges	Paris, 30 quai de Bethune	Sold to Ribbentrop through Wuester	Schenker documents indicate sales to German buyers
Schmit, Jean	Paris, 22 rue de Charonne	Important antique dealer and decorating concern	Dealt with Bornheim, Angerer, Haberstock and other Germans brought to him by Wuester
Schoeller, Andre	Paris, 13 rue de Teheran	Well known expert in French 19th century painting	President of the Art Editors Syndicate and appraiser for the Hotel Drouot
Toulinot (Toulino)	Paris, 8 ave Victor Massel	Small dealer	Partner of Loewenisch
de Trevise, Duc	Paris	Pre-war sponsor and friend of Rochlitz and Wuester
Trotti, Count Rene Avogli	Paris, 1/88 rue de Grenelle	Well known art dealer of Italian birth; in touch with many German art agents during the war, particularly Wuester, an old friend	Also did business with Haberstock
Wuester Adolf	See Germany
Raeber, Dr Willi	Basle, St Albans Anlage 68	Prominent art dealer	Vice president of the Swiss syndicate of art dealers and its most active member
Wendland, Dr Hans	Versoix/Geneva	German national	Art dealer, resident alternately in France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany since World War I

For transcription of the Art Looting Investigation Unit Final Report and the Red Flag list of Names see lootedart.com here.

Nazi looted art: deception by provenance authors

The scale of deceptive practices by art market professionals concerning Holocaust-related looted art is under-appreciated.

The web of complicity is tough to break through, and it is rather depressing to even try. 

However, inspired by recent events, we will in this next series of posts, attempt to highlight of few of the tricks used by various art market actors to disguise what they clearly suspect to be illicit origins.

In this first post, we revisit the El Greco, Portrait of a Gentleman, that was part of the Julius Priester collection before the Holocaust. 

ARCHIVED LINK

The Ultimate Art Looting Network: AGENTS OF HIGH PLACED NAZIS

Declassified in 2001, the "Agents of High Placed Nazis for Looting Works of Art " Source: NARA 1518815  

AGENTS OF HIGH PLACED NAZIS FOR LOOTING WORKS OF ART

Herr Adolf WÜSTER
Herr Gustav ROCHLITZ
Dr. VOSS
Dr. Kurt MARTIN
Andreas HOFER
Dr. HABERSTOCK
Dr. LOHSE
Dr. BUCHNER
Dr. Otto FÖRSTER
Herr BAHMANN
Dr. GURLITT
Dr. MÜHLMANN
Dr. GOEPEL
Prof. HERBST
Dr. R SCHOLZ
Herr APFELSTAEDT
Emil ZAUNKELMER

From Paris
Martin FABIANI
Roger DEQUOY
Alfred DABER
César de HAUCKE
? PETRIDES
Count Avogli TROTTI



Most of these names are familiar from the Art Looting Investigation Unit Final Report and Red Flag List.  Several of these names also appear in provenances of artworks that are currently in public museums.

The ALIU singled out this "cluster" of individuals for particular attention. What was their position within the overall ALIU Red Flag Network? And how did it evolve in the aftermath of the war?

The ALIU Red Flag list presents a snapshot of the network (as they understood it) shortly before the OSS unit was dissolved. When happened next? And, in particular, after both the Munich and Wiesbaden Central Collecting Points were closed in August 1951?

Can we track the evolution of this cluster over time?

Paul Pétridès in 1946 ALIU Red Flag list

---

Dequoy and Fabiani: 1946 Art Looting Investigation Unit Final Report (Red Flag List of Names)

----

Dr Hans Herbst : 1946 ALIU report
(note: as for the other networks above, the relations are taken from the mentions of Herbst in the bios of other Red Flag names.) 

---

Nazi art looter Karl Haberstock had many, many contacts among art dealers and galleries

-----

This chart shows the links between several of the names on the "Agents of High Placed Nazis for Looting of Works of Art.
When there are so many names the graph becomes harder to read.  The table has 473 rows taken from the  1946 ALIU Report/

---

In future posts, we will describe how we are formatting the ALIU Red Flag list for import into Fusion Tables so that anyone can replicate (and maybe improve) the graphs. 
-----------------
transcription of names from FOLD3 document https://www.fold3.com/image/270079420

about this document:

Roberts Commission - Protection of Historical Monuments

National Archives Catalog ID: 1518815
National Archives Catalog Title: London Files, compiled 1943 - 1945
Series:London Files
Category: London File- British Element CC (Bunjes Papers, Ect.)
Date Range:1943 - 1945
Publication Title:
Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historical Monuments in War Areas (The Roberts Commission), 1943-1946
Content Source:
 The National Archives
Publication Number:
M1944
Content Source:
NARA
Source Publication Year:
2007
Language:
English, French, German
Country:
n/a
Footnote Job:
11-004
Footnote Publication Year:
2011
Record Group:
239
Short Description:
NARA M1944. Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas, 1943-1946.
Roll:
0032

Declassified: April 23, 2001, Published 2007