May 26, 2021

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, HermannCologne, Komoedienstrasse 26DealersSpecialists in 16th to 19th century painting and graphic arts
Bammann, HansDusseldorf, Blumenstrasse 11Dealer, drafted into the army in 1942 and transferred to the ERR in Paris in December 1943 at the request of Lohse and WuesterBelieved to have acted as agent for art purchases in France for museums of Dusseldorf, Cologne, Aachen and Bonn
Breker, Prof ArnoStarnberg (Buchhof uber Pocha), BavariaCelebrated Nazi sculptor, often in Paris during the warTook part in arranging tour of French artists through Germany
Goepel, Dr ErhardLeipzig, Stieghtstrasse 76Official Linz agent and buyer in Holland under Posse and VossBought extensively in Holland and also travelled frequently in Belgium and France
Knothe, DrSecretary of the German Embassy, Paris and reported to have worked with Wuester on art matters for von Ribbentrop and possibly Goebbels
Kuetgens, Dr FelixAachen, Heinrichsallee 18Member of Kunstschutz, ParisMentioned as also in charge of Kunstschutz in Serbia and Greece
Loewenisch, AlbertCologne Paris, 8 ave Victor MasselPurchasing agent for the Gauleitung Dusseldorf-Koln-Aachen-Bonn, and one of the official representatives of German museums in FranceContact of Hermssen, Wuester, Weinmueller and Lange
May, Frau WismerZurich, Seefeldstrasse 90Colleague of Wuester in the art section of the German Embassy, ParisArdent Nazi and well connected in high Party circles
Mohnen, Wilhelm JacobGerman nationalCaptured in Rome, 5 February 1945, after taking refuge in the Vatican
Muthmann, DrDirector of Museum of KrefeldIn contact with Wuester, Paul Cailleux, Dr Kurt Martin and Dr Hopp
Pfannstiel, ArthurParisGerman painter and dealer, resident in Paris before the warMember of staff of ERR, Bordeaux and of GIS
Rademacher, Dr BernardBonnAssistant at the Landesmuseum, BonnAgent for art purchases in France
von WaldthausenIn charge of interior decoration of the German Embassy, Paris, 1940Assisted by Wuester, 1942
Wuester, AdolfBernau, Bavaria Bonn SchloeselPainter and amateur dealer, long-time pre-war resident of ParisChief agent in France for acquisition of works of art for Ribbentrop
BlotParisDealer, dealt with Wuester
Cailleux, PaulParis, 136 rue du Fbg St HonoreDealer in contact with Rochlitz, Wuester, Frau Dietrich, HaberstockKnew Lohse, who claims to have freed his wife from a concentration camp
Cloots, F GParis, 14 rue de l’AbbayeSmall dealer specialising in 17th century Dutch paintingIn contact with Wuester and Hofer
Gairac, GeorgesParis, 17 rue de SeineFrench art dealer who sold to Wuester and Bornheim
Gerard, Raphael Louis FelixParis, 4 ave de MessineDealt in confiscated pictures; main source of supply to Wuester and other German buyersIndicted by French Government (Seine Tribunal, Judge Frapier)
de Haucke, Cesar MongeParis, 14 rue du Cherche-MidiDealer active in Paris and New York before the warActive in Paris during the occupation; in contact with Wuester, Haberstock and Hofer; documentary evidence in Unit files
Kalebjian, IreneParis, 52 bis ave d’IenaSchenker documents indicate sales to German buyersOne of Wuester’s chief sources
Leegenhoek, M OParis, 1 rue de Rennes/230 blvd RaspailBelgian nationalProminent 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, VictorParis, 9 rue du BoetieGerman refugee dealer, formerly active in BerlinHighly important figure in German art purchases in Paris
Montag, CharlesSevres Meudon Val Fleury, 72 rue de ParisSwiss; naturalised FrenchArtist and dealer
Renand, GeorgesParis, 30 quai de BethuneSold to Ribbentrop through WuesterSchenker documents indicate sales to German buyers
Schmit, JeanParis, 22 rue de CharonneImportant antique dealer and decorating concernDealt with Bornheim, Angerer, Haberstock and other Germans brought to him by Wuester
Schoeller, AndreParis, 13 rue de TeheranWell known expert in French 19th century paintingPresident of the Art Editors Syndicate and appraiser for the Hotel Drouot
Toulinot (Toulino)Paris, 8 ave Victor MasselSmall dealerPartner of Loewenisch
de Trevise, DucParisPre-war sponsor and friend of Rochlitz and Wuester
Trotti, Count Rene AvogliParis, 1/88 rue de GrenelleWell known art dealer of Italian birth; in touch with many German art agents during the war, particularly Wuester, an old friendAlso did business with Haberstock
Wuester AdolfSee Germany
Raeber, Dr WilliBasle, St Albans Anlage 68Prominent art dealerVice president of the Swiss syndicate of art dealers and its most active member
Wendland, Dr HansVersoix/GenevaGerman nationalArt 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.


May 20, 2021

Readings in Nazi looted art: The Rape of Europa by Lynn Nicholas


Published in 1995, Lynn Nicholas' book The Rape of Europa was one of the first to investigate Hitler's massive looting of artworks. Many archives have opened since then and progress with digitization of source documents as well as and museum collections databases following the Washington Declaration have made new material available. 
It is nevertheless interesting to reread Nicholas' book for its insights, especially since the book was published nearly twenty years before the Gurlitt stash was discovered.

Below are a couple of brief extracts.



 "Voss would now channel his purchase funds, which would surpass those spent by Posse, through his own trusted agents, principal among whom was Hildebrand Gurlitt..."

- The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War by Lynn Nicholas


"Despite their disgust the OSS and MFAA men were human. Craig Smyth, who later had to supervise the house arrest of Hermann Voss, found it difficult to treat so eminent a scholar as a criminal and had him report daily to someone else. Monuments officer Charles Parkhurst, sent to question the widow of Hans Posse, whom he found living on the proceeds of sales of the pathetic contents of two suitcases of family bibelots, described her as a “gentle, elderly person” and broke off his interrogation when she began to weep. In the few answers she did provide it was clear that she was very proud of her husband’s accomplishments. She even showed Parkhurst photographs of Hitler at Posse’s state funeral, but of his actual transactions she clearly knew nothing."

The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War by Lynn Nicholas


 "Plaut doubted that Bruno Lohse had really known the extent of Goering’s evildoing and noted that both he and Fräulein Limberger had become despondent when all was revealed. Rousseau and Faison too, after weeks of questioning Miss Limberger, were convinced that despite the fact that she had read the damning daily correspondence from Hofer to Goering, she bore no blame. When they had finished with her, Faison could not bring himself to leave her at the squalid internment camp to which she had been assigned and instead asked her where she would like to go. She named the Munich dealer Walter Bornheim, he of the suitcases full of francs, and a principal supplier to both Linz and Goering. Faison consented, and left her at the military post in Gräfelfing, where Bornheim lived."


The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War by Lynn Nicholas

 available on Amazon 

May 17, 2021

Buried for more than half a century

Altaussee Salt/Art Mine discovery after WW II
Lieutenants Kern & Sieber, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

What must it have been like for Samson Lane Faison, Jr., James S. Plaut, Theodore Rousseau, Jr. and Jean Vlug to watch their reports on Nazi art looting and art dealer networks be buried and lost?


The ALIU reports contained names, dates, places, specific events, artworks - crucial information for tracking down looted art. 

All classified. Hidden away. Inaccessible. Unknown. Unexplored.

What lesson could these museum men possibly have learned from Washington's treatment of their historic work?

When, in 2001, the reports were to be published on microfiche, Dr. Greg Bradsher contacted S. Lane Faison, to tell him the news that their work would finally be public and to ask permission to give Faison's phone number to journalists who might want to know more. Bradsher described the conversation in a blog post for the National Archives:

On April 23, 2001, I phoned Professor Faison and told him the National Archives was issuing the next day a press release announcing the release of Microfilm Publication M-1782, “OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit Reports, 1945-46.”  I told him the microfilmed records—including the detailed, consolidated, and final reports—were being made available on May 8, the 56th anniversary of the U.S. Army’s discovery of the salt mine at Alt Aussee, Austria, where the greatest concentration of Nazi plunder from Western Europe was concealed.  I asked him if he minded me making his phone number available if I received press inquiries about the records and the work of the ALIU.  He said at his age it was tough enough to get up to change the television channel, much less answer the phone regarding things he had done ages ago and which were well-documented in the records we were making available. So, yes, he did mind.

-  "An Office of Strategic Services Monuments Man: S. Lane Faison"

 This is the seventh in an ongoing series of posts on real-life Monuments Men. Today’s post is by Dr. Greg Bradsher. See related posts on Sir Charles Leonard WoolleyWalter J. HuchthausenSeymour J. PomrenzeMason HammondEdith Standen, and Karol Estreicher. 

May 8, 2021

Linz ALMAS



Maria Almas-Dietrich: Nazi art looter

"Art dealer; personal friend of Hitler, and for a time his principal buyer of works of art. One of the most important purchasing agents for Linz. Was under house arrest at Grafing, Bavaria, autumn 1945."
ALIU 1946 Final Report


Art historians, "Almas" in a provenance text means: dig deep.

The probability of Nazi looting is high.

Below, artworks from the DHM Linz database that contain "Almas" in the provenance.

LINZ Waldmüller

searching for Waldmüller: Hitler's LINZ museum


 LINZ Waldmüller DMH

May 1, 2021

Names of persecuted Austrian Jewish collectors



How to verify the provenance texts of artworks for names that might indicate a history of Nazi looting or persecution?

There are many potential sources and lists.

In this post, we look an official Austrian report from 2008 that contains names of Austrian Jewish collectors whose art collections were plundered by the Nazis.

Mar 19, 2021

Suspicious provenance errors: Manet's Mellon

Mrs Kurt Riezler (née Käthe Liebermann, daughter of Max Liebermann) was previously mis-identified as Liezler

 Why does it matter? Because her family was persecuted by the Nazis and she herself was a refugee.


EDOUARD MANET

The Melonc. 1880

Mar 8, 2021

Rüdenberg Heirs vs. the City of Hanover

 Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property

Office: German Lost Art Foundation, Humboldtstraße 12, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany

Recommendation of the Advisory Commission in the case of Rüdenberg Heirs vs. the City of Hanover

Dr. and Mrs. Max Stern Foundation v. Bavarian State Painting Collections - German Advisory Commission

Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property

Recommendation of the Advisory Commission in the case of Dr. and Mrs. Max Stern Foundation v. Bavarian State Painting Collections

Heirs of A. B. ./. Bavarian State Painting Collections - German Advisory Commission

Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of National Socialist persecution, especially Jewish property

Office: Seydelstraße 18, 10117 Berlin

Recommendation of the Advisory Commission in the case of Heirs of A. B. ./. Bavarian State Painting Collections

Heirs of Max Fischer v. the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg - German Advisory Commission

 Advisory Commission

on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property
Office: Seydelstr. 18, 10117 Berlin

Recommendation of the Advisory Commission in the case of the heirs of Max Fischer v. the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg

Heinrich Rieger v. The City of Cologne German Advisory Commission

Advisory Commission
on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property
Office: Seydelstr. 18, 10117 Berlin

Recommendation of the Advisory Commission in the case of the heirs of Heinrich Rieger v. The City of Cologne

Mar 7, 2021

Provenance cases for students of art history

"...the Grünbaum heirs contend that Mr. Kornfeld’s account is a fiction and that the documents are forgeries. They say it is suspicious that he did not identify Ms. Lukacs-Herzl as his supplier until nearly two decades after her death, and they contest the validity of the signatures on the records, pointing to places where Ms. Lukacs-Herzl’s name is misspelled or written in pencil...."

 

- William D. Cohan, Jewish Heirs Take on an Art Foundation That Rights Nazi Wrongs, NYT, Aug. 26, 2018

 



***

READING GUIDE


Questions for students of art history



1) Why is it important to establish an accurate account of the ownership history of an artwork?




2) How to verify whether an art dealer is telling the truth or lying about the provenance an artwork he or she sold?



3) What elements in this story help to clarify an accurate sequence of events? 



4) What historical knowledge is needed to make sense of these different accounts?



5) What additional information can you find from other sources that make it possible to see more clearly what really happened?



6) This NYT news story was published in 2018. What has happened since then? Do recent events shed light on who was telling the truth and who was lying? If so, how?





read more at: http://archive.is/mNym6#selection-825.517-825.541

Jewish Heirs Take on an Art Foundation That Rights Nazi Wrongs by By William D. Cohan, Aug. 26, 2018