As the Nazis appropriated art collection

[LCR]

This is a great and detailed article on artistic policy, if I may say so, the National Socialist Party of Germany during the war. I will spread a little, I have not all translated.


How the Nazis appropriated art collection
Adrian Darmon, http://www.artcult.fr/_Sommaire/

Immediately after coming to power in 1933, the Nazis developed a plan of expropriation of works of art belonging to Jews in Germany and abroad, in anticipation of a new Europe.

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30 January 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor of the Reich, and within a month in many German cities were organized against the exhibition of contemporary art - Hitler clearly outlined his criteria in this area.

20 th March 1933 was organized by the public burning of the 5000 works "degenerative art".

1 st April 1933 the Nazis organized a national day boycott of shops belonging to persons of Jewish origin, and have begun to exclude them from government agencies and from professional colleagues, and forbade them to cultural activities.

On May 10, the Nazis carried out in Berlin the first public burning of banned books.

On September 10, 1935 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, Hitler made a speech against modern art. After 5 days, the Nazis began to apply the "Nuremberg laws" that deprives people of Jewish origin, civil rights and prohibiting mixed marriages. Since then, people of Jewish origin finally realized the danger that hangs over them. Many of them decided to emigrate.

From 19 July to 30 November 1937 the Nazis carried out the Munich exhibition of "degenerative art» ( «Entarte Kunst»), which were exhibited works of contemporary art, representing the "essence of the Judeo-Bolshevik degeneration in German art." By March 1938, museums have been "cleaned up" - was removed about 16 000 "degenerative" works of art.

12 th March 1938 the German army entered Austria, and in six weeks the Nazis issued a decree imposing an obligation on persons of Jewish origin to submit an inventory of his fortune to follow the expropriation.

In May 1938, in Germany, a commission was established under the leadership of Alfred Rosenberg and Adolf Ziegler operating confiscated "degenerative" works of art. The castle Nidershenhoyzen near Berlin was opened on the auction hall for their sale. German citizens have the right to buy these products on the currency or barter them for works of interest to Hitler and the Nazis. A month later, a decree that Germanskoe state will not pay any compensation for the confiscated them "degenerative" works of art.

14 June, the Minister of Interior issued a decree on the nationalization of all businesses owned by persons of Jewish origin, giving them the right to sell their enterprises to citizens-Aryans.

6 June 1939, Hitler appointed Dr. Hans Posse, the director of the Dresden Museum, the only authorized the purchase of works of art for the museum in Linz (Austria), designed to gather the largest collection of germanskogo art and foreign art masterpieces by purchase or expropriation.

June 30, Fischer Gallery in Lucerne, organized the sale of 126 works of "degenerative art", the proceeds of which was supposed to go to the German museums. A month later, Martin Borman ordered that the collection, expropriated in the occupied territories, were kept intact, while the Chancellor and Dr. Posse does not take away items for the Linz Museum.

On August 23 signed a nonaggression pact with the USSR.

In Paris, all museums were closed. Between August 27 and December 28, sent 27 freight trains, in which most of the collections of French museums was transferred in 7 locks, including Chamfort. Some collectors of Jewish origin have transferred their meeting in temporary storage in the state museums. These collections were taken to Chamfort, Brissak and Sursh with national meetings.

1 st July 1940 Germany's ambassador in France, Otto Abetts ordered the military commander of Paris to seize the meeting of the museums of Paris and provincial museums, as well as an inventory and to expropriate the works of art belonging to persons of Jewish origin living in the occupied territories. Captured items were to be transported to the Embassy of Germany in Paris. With regard to the subjects of the national assembly, at this stage of the Nazis confined the preparation of documents for their expropriation.

All the same Abetts sent to the Gestapo list of the fifteen largest art dealers in Paris of Jewish origin, including Seligman, Vildenshtayn, Alphonse Kahn (who escaped to London), Paul Rosenberg, and Bernheim, Jr.. Most of these merchants did not manage to hide their collection.

In July 1940 a decree was issued, committing French settlers in the occupied territories, to convey to the office inventory of all movable property belonging to them worth more than 100 000 francs, and soon - another decree, forbidding any movement artifacts without a permit. At the end of the month a special service, led by the theoretician of the National Socialist Party, Alfred Rosenberg, was transferred to Paris. She was charged with the confiscation of property of persons of Jewish origin and the Freemasons in occupied Europe.

In August 1940, Goebbels ordered Dr. Kimmel, Director General National Museums of Germany, a list of works by German artists who were in occupied countries, in order to confiscate them, but if they get a refund of extinction in the form of equivalent products. The property of persons of Jewish origin and the Masons, who lived in Alsace-Lorraine, annexed in the same month was transferred to Nazi organizations. Established a special office, which passed on the proceeds from the sale of confiscated items.

In late August Abetts sent to Berlin full documentation on the confiscated paintings from the national assembly in the occupied territories, and conveyed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Reich's list of thirty of the most valuable paintings discovered in the mansions of people of Jewish origin. Two days later the Vichy government issued a decree on the appointment of temporary administrators of enterprises whose owners were denied the right to perform their duties. It should be noted zeal with which the Vichy government was subject to the requirements of the Nazis!

On September 13 the Regional Trial Court Upper Pyrenees ordered to liquidate all the property of Baron Maurice de Rothschild, which was detected in Arzheles-Gazo. Museums used the right of priority purchase and receive the confiscated works of art. In this case, the Vichy government had shown its own initiative, plunder the property belonging to a Jewish family, despite the fact that the law on the special status of persons of Jewish origin had not yet been adopted.

September 17, Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht to render all assistance in the transport of cultural property to Germany. At the same time a decree was issued, according to which on September 1, all the deal to sell works of art to the French state or private person were declared null and void.

On September 26, Directorate Hotel Drouot in Paris appealed to the Nazi authorities for permission to resume the activities of auction houses. This permission was granted with the condition to send them all the directories of trades and separately report on items valued at more than 100 000 francs, as well as information about customers. Since then, the official market of art began to develop in parallel with the black market.

In early October, the Nazis confiscated the Turgenev Library, established in Paris by Russian emigrants. This collection, numbering more than 100 000 volumes, was moved to Berlin, and later, probably in Prague, where the Nazis wanted to create a "center of Slavic Studies. At the end of the war, this collection was seized by Soviet troops and sent to Moscow.

October 5, was issued a law that instructed the French government to control and elimination of the confiscated property of emigrants. The head of the German military command gave the order to transport the confiscated works of art from the Embassy of Germany in the museum Jeu de Pomme, who became the principal repository of confiscated works of art.

Rose Vallan, an employee of the museum Jeu de Pomme, was the only Frenchwoman, who retained access to the museum. She decided to gather as much information about the works of art were stored there and send it to the directorate of national museums. Works of "degenerative art" stored separately, the Nazis used them to exchange for the antiquities, intended for Germany.

Director of National Museums tried to ensure the preservation of the collections of the Jews, not deprived of French nationality, appointing interim managers of these collections, but his efforts were unavailing.

November 3, Marshal Goering visited the museum Jeu de Pomme and selected 27 paintings from the collections of confiscated for his personal collection. Subsequently, he has visited the museum and was a program of transferring confiscated from Jewish collections in the collection of Hitler and in his collection. Hitler, in turn, ordered to keep all the confiscated works for a museum in Linz, but this order is not performed very strongly, as he sometimes preferred to display these works are not for sale. However, its solution experts from Linz able to select items that interested them, for the museum collection.

[LCR]

In December, thanks to a policy of neutrality, which was held by General Franco, Pétain gave him a few masterpieces of the French assembly, but the administration of the national museums have to make this gift in exchange of Spanish museums. After 10 days of the Vichy government asked German authorities to allow members of the French Customs, responsible for the management of confiscated property to undertake this mission. So 6 months after the surrender of the Vichy government began to theft of property of persons of Jewish origin - they are ahead of the aspirations of the Nazis.

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In late December 1940, Hitler allowed to take out of France confiscated works of art. Soon had been expropriated by numerous collections, including the Rothschild family collections, collections, Jacques Stern, Lyndon Alfred and Alphonse Kahn.

In February 1941, Admiral Darlan was appointed successor to Petain. A few days works of art confiscated from Jewish collections, intended for Hitler and Goering were transported to Germany. Between April 1941 and July 1944 4 174 boxes containing more than 20 000 subjects left the territory of France. During this period, Rose Vallan managed to make an inventory of a large part of the works were kept in the museum Jeu de Pomme, but no one dared to prevent their removal.

In March, the Vichy government created the General Commissariat for Jewish Affairs and attempted to assign works confiscated from French Jewish descent, but to no avail. But this Commissariat successfully carried out the orders of the Nazis by staging a real hunt for Jews living in France.

April 10 was issued a decree establishing the Higher Committee of the Customs Department for the confiscation and liquidation. His job was to prevent the exportation from France of confiscated art objects. Directorate of National Museums, in turn, appealed to the Administrator-General of the occupied territories with a letter in which ineligibility was due to the confiscation of Jewish collections deposited in museums. This action, however, did not take action, because the next day, the German authorities in possession of information received from informants, confiscated David-Weill collection, kept in the castle Sursh.

Director of the castle lord Zhozhar showed courage and decency, writing a letter to the Secretary General of the fine arts, in which he reproached him in a criminal silence.

26 th June 1941 Director of the state museums in the German administration sent a letter of protest against the confiscation of the collection of David-Weill. The letter cited the Hague Convention, which guaranteed the inviolability of private property. Vichy government began to realize the immensity of theft and attempted to limit the field of the Nazis.

On July 7, Jewish collections, in particular assembly Jacobson, Leuven, Roger Levy, and Reichenbach, sent them for storage in the national museums, were removed from the castle Chamfort. The Nazis used the help of French collaborators, many of whom, in the past, criminals are protected by the Gestapo.

At the same time the first official exchange with the confiscated paintings: 22 Impressionist paintings were removed from the Jeu de Pomme in Neuschwanstein, a collection of Goering, and from the gallery Fischer in Lucerne 6 paintings by old masters were transferred to the French. Until the end of 1943 in Switzerland was carried out at least 28 operations for the exchange of the confiscated paintings, and the Vichy authorities had with the right to vote.

In August, were expropriated by the collection Lapferera, Erlanzhe, Raymond Essa, Simon Levy, Léonce Bernstein, sent by their owners for temporary storage in the national museums.

3rd November in a document sent to the Assistant Rosenberg Gerhardt Utikalom General Reinecke, head of the Directorate-General of the Army in Berlin, the Nazis issued its position regarding the confiscation of Jewish collections. According to this document, conquered by France, the Germans had rescued her from the influence of "international Jewry". The truce with the French people did not extend to the Jews - the enemies of the Reich.

Moreover, since the majority of Jews moved to France from Germany, the Nazi appropriation of their art was a partial refund, which Reich has spent in the struggle for the liberation of Europe from the "Jewishness".

In March 1942, Rose Valan was a report with a list of works of modern art, which were kept at this time in the Jeu de Pomme, showing the collections from which they occurred. Subsequently, this report proved to be indispensable for the recovery of stolen during the war, works of art.

In April, the Nazis first use the diplomatic baggage for importation into Switzerland confiscated paintings to share. Among them were 25 impressionist paintings (22 of which came from Paul Rosenberg's collection).

On April 7 district chiefs occupying administrative offices have received a circular in which they were ordered to answer all questions regarding expropriations exclusively in oral form. The official explanation: the confiscation of property - a "punishment for treachery of the Jews".

In May 1942, established two stations, subordinated to Rosenberg, for the systematic theft of Jewish origin: M-aktion, to centralize all operations and reports directly to Berlin, and Dienststelle Westen, specializing in artistic values.

The report of von Baer on the performance of M-aktion, which he ran until the end of July 1944, indicated that it was completely devastated by 69 619 flats (39 000 in Paris), where persons of Jewish origin.

Since May 1942 the Nazis began to evacuate the collections of museums in the regions of the North, Normandy and Brittany. They have also begun a systematic inventory of the confiscated works of art - after the war, these inventories have helped the allies to find thousands of works of art.

In the summer of 1942 the Germans captured polyptych brothers Van Eyck "Mystic Lamb", passed in May 1940 the Museum of Ghent deposited in the Directorate of National Museums of France and relocated to the museum by the city. Personnel Directorate asked the Vichy government to accede to the Belgian authorities and demand the return of polyptych Van Eykov.

In March 1943 the Vichy government evacuated the collections of museums of cities of the Mediterranean coast and the Rhone Valley.

April 6 th collector Henry Schloss and his wife were abducted by agents in Marseilles General Commissariat for Jewish Affairs. The initiator of the abduction was Lawal, who had hoped to find out where their assembly, consisting of 300 paintings by Dutch masters of the XVII century. Goering and Hitler were very interested in this meeting, and Laval decided to sell it to the Nazis.

Schloss did not give evidence, but found a collection of denunciations, the art dealer Jean-Francois Lefranc, and is rumored to have another Parisian gallery owner, who hoped thereby to protect themselves from the Germans. April 21, Martin Bormann, have photographs of paintings from the collection, ordered to hand over all confiscated items to the ownership of the museum in Linz. Schloss collection was moved to Paris and is divided: the Germans have 262 pictures for the Linz Museum, Directorate of National Museums left his 49 works. Finally, an informer Lefranc also received their share.

27 th May 1942 Rose Valan reported on the destruction of 500 or 600 works of contemporary art, among which were the work of Masson, Miro, Picabia, Valadon, Klee, Ernst, Leger, Picasso, Kisling, La Fresnaye Marvalya, Mane-Katz. They were burned in the inner garden of the museum Jeu de Pomme, and it was that the only witness.

In July, the United States was founded American Commission for the Protection of Artistic and Historic Monuments, whose officers helped to track down stolen works of art.

19-July the Germans were summoned to the Louvre commission to decide the fate of the confiscated works of art. Pictures of economic interest (Courbet, the Impressionists, Bonnard, Vuillard, Matisse, Braque, Dufy, Marie Laurence), were saved and moved to the Jeu de Pomme, other works of contemporary art confiscated from Jewish families belonging to the big bourgeoisie, which were severed and then burned.

Generally, the Germans were interested only in works of old masters, works of "degenerative art" served them for an exchange, when they were not destroyed. At the end of 1943 works of art, intended for a museum in Linz, were hidden in salt mines in Alta (Austria).

In the spring of 1944, the castle in the Dordogne Rastignac was looted and burned by the Nazis. Until now, the whereabouts of the paintings from the collection of Bernheim, Jr., are stored there.

At the same time in London, established the Commission for the Protection and Restitution of Cultural Property. It lasted until the end of 1946.

In early April, after the forced sale of the museum in Linz in Germany were sent pictures of the Dutch collections Mannheimer, kept far from Paris.

June 6 th, the Allies landed in Normandy, prompting the Nazis to expedite shipment of confiscated works of art in Germany, despite attempts to sabotage rail traffic from the French Resistance.

In June and July in Paris was a new wave of expropriations: collections were confiscated Weil-Picard, Van Cleef, Esdera and Thalmann.

At the UN Conference held in Bretton Woods in July, was adopted by the international resolutions affirming the London Declaration in January 1941 and recommended a neutral country prohibit the operation of assets of the Nazis and, in particular, works of art on its territory.

On August 19, started the Paris uprising against the occupiers. Hitler gave the order to destroy the town to the ground, but the general background Holtitts decided not to comply with this order.

On August 25, Division of General Leclerc entered Paris. Two days later, having received information from Rosa Vallan, the army detained Leclair train number 40044, which was the last shipment of art that are sent to Germany. Officers responsible for this operation, was Alexander Rosenberg, the son of a collector fields - so he was able to return part of the collection of his father.

In September 1944, the Commission was established to search for and return of works of art under the leadership of Albert Anro, vice-president of the national museums. Among other things, it included Jacques Zhozhar, Rose Vallan and Rene Yuig. The Commission met at the museum Jeu de Pomme and dealt with the return of the rightful owners of stolen items. Statements filed with the commission, were about 100 000 works of art.

In December, Rose Vallan showed storage of documents related to the confiscation of art objects. It also established the location of stores outside of France, where the Nazis evacuated the loot. Many works of art were found in the castles of Bavaria and Munich, Czechoslovakia and Austria. All these stores were not damaged by Allied bombing.


When the Soviet troops were not limited to those that were sent to Soviet works of art, brought out by the Germans, they were systematically taken out all the items that they came to hand.

[LCR]

Almost at the same time, Göring ordered the destruction of his country residence in Karinhalle, and in April the majority of works of art that were his collection, was transported by special train to Berchtesgaden and Untersteinach.

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In January 1945, the union of French art dealers decided not to make the French administration, no information regarding the illegal trade in works of art during the occupation, to avoid financial claims. Many respected professionals of the French art market - Fabiani, Petrides, Kaye and others less known - are actively traded with the Germans, which led to the rapid development of the art market during those four dark years.

In April, shortly before the entry in Munich the American army, crowd looted palace of the Fuhrer, and many works of art disappeared. Castle Nikolsburg (in what is now the Czech Republic), where he kept stolen art, was partially destroyed by a fire that accompanied the entry of Soviet troops. Subsequently, the Government of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet army claimed that the fire completely destroyed the castle.

In Paris, the art dealer Jean-Francois Lefranc, agent Vichy, who was involved in the Schloss, was arrested.

At the meeting of the advisory committee allies in Lourdes, the British objected to works of art, including those belonging to Germany, used to pay reparations.

On April 7, U.S. troops discovered on the outskirts of Weimar store gold reserves of the Reich, as well as paintings from the Berlin Museums. A few weeks later a U.S. military ship loaded with these works of art, secretly left the port of Nantes. Since then, the fate of the goods have not been heard.

By order of the Gauleiter Oberdonau Aygrubera entrance to the mine Alt Auzee where the collections, designed for the museum in Linz, was mined - the Nazis preferred to works of art were killed, but got allies. Fortunately, Kaltenbrunner ordered to clear the mines.

On April 11 was developed by order of distribution of found property: furniture and household items that could not be identified, distributed among the neediest of people affected by the expropriation. Rest of the property intended to return to the owners or their representatives, who could prove ownership within one year after the official date of termination of hostilities. After this period, it is movable property was to be sold by customs authorities. This date has not been determined, but, nevertheless, in the early 1950's Customs Administration has sold several thousand works of art. Competent organization without much enthusiasm involved the transfer of property owners and their successors, but this activity soon petered out, and the question remained open for nearly fifty years. Collectors had to conduct the investigation itself, to get back their property, some of them have still not received the return of the items submitted to them for temporary storage in museums and are still within them.

April 28, U.S. troops broke into the warehouse of the castle Neuschwanstein. Despite the fact that many works of art were transported from there by the Nazis, they found 1,300 paintings from museums in Bavaria and many paintings, confiscated in France, and German archives. Then the store were found in a monastery in Buxheim and Chiemsee.

In May, the Americans found a collection of Goering in Berchtesgaden. American structure, designed to return looted works of art owners, began its work. Were interrogated Nazis engaged in works of art, was organized storage of confiscated works of art. The main store was located in Munich.

The Americans decided that the works confiscated by the Germans in the European countries, should be returned to that same respect to works of art belonging to Germany, they could be transported to the United States, where they were stored for as long as the "nation of Germany did not deserve the right to be a as a nation, like all others. " This project had the support of President Truman, led a lively debate in the United States, opponents of such a decision had feared that these works in the end will be assigned. One way or another, but at the end of the war 200 works from the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin were moved to the United States.

They were returned to Germany, gradually, in parts, with the last item was transferred in April 1949.

In September 1945 the mandates were issued for the arrest of Martin Fabiani, an art dealer implicated in the illegal transactions in France, in particular in the organization of export of the collection of Ambroise Vollara. Fabiani was sentenced to a fine of 146 million francs, but against other traders, who collaborated with the Nazis, court action was taken.

3rd September 1945 "Mystic Lamb" brothers Van Eyck was returned to Belgium.

For as soon as possible to recover stolen works of art by the Nazis, the Allies of German citizens were obliged to declare all the works of art removed from the occupied territories and in their possession.

On December 10 the Swiss government issued a law on the procedure for return of property looted by the Nazis from occupied territories.

In France, between 1945 m and 1949 m over the years about 45 000 works of art were returned to their rightful owners, then sold 15 000 unclaimed items.