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Museums

Museums are listed in the files of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle as direct purchasers of looted art and cultural assets.

Learn more here about the theft of art and cultural property

In some cases, museums enjoyed a privileged position. The Vermögensverwertungsstelle informed them about cultural assets it had confiscatedBy confiscating assets, government officials initially deprived owners of the authority to dispose of their bank accounts, household furnishings, securities, etc., which were placed under state administration. More that were classified as valuable. This allowed them and other state cultural institutions to access these objects before they were auctioned off.

For example, in 1942, the Focke Museum in Bremen acquired a Baroque chest of drawers from Ernst Georg Zadek’s household goods stored in Bremen’s free port before it was publicly auctioned.

In addition to this direct access to confiscatedBy confiscating assets, government officials initially deprived owners of the authority to dispose of their bank accounts, household furnishings, securities, etc., which were placed under state administration. More cultural assets, museums were also able to acquire these objects indirectly. Works of art purchased by art and antiques dealers at auctions held by the Nazi financial administration often found their way indirectly into public collections.

Document with several typed lines. — The Focke Museum in Bremen acquired the Baroque chest of drawers for 800 reichsmarks, March 1942. BLHA, Rep. 36A (II) no. 41083, fol. 34

Maschinenschriftliches Dokument: tabellarische Auflistung von vierzehn Positionen an Kunstwerken, ihrer Erwerber*innen und der Erlöse

First page of the twenty-five-page auction record of Bruno Cassirer’s possessions, 1 March 1944, BLHA, Rep. 36A (II) no. 6227, fol. 131v

Zentralbibliothek of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Central Library of the Reich Security Main Office)

In August 1942, Abteilung VII Weltanschauliche Forschung (Section VII: Ideological Research) within the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Main Office, RSHA) secured access to the looted libraries of deported and displaced persons. The books were transferred to the Zentralbibliothek (Central Library), which was then being established.

In this process, the RSHA was granted priority over other state and Party agencies: it could select books even before the Vermögensverwertungsstelle took over the seized items for administration from the Gestapo.

Typed document: transcript. — Decree of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt concerning “Jüdische Privatbibliotheken” (Jewish private libraries), 12 August 1942. BLHA, Rep. 36A (II) no. 55202, fol. 74

Dolmetscher-Lehr-Abteilung (Interpreter Training Department)

The Dolmetscher-Lehr-Abteilung (Interpreter Training Department) was a unit within the Chef der Heeresausrüstung und Befehlshaber des Ersatzheeres (Chief of Army Equipment and Commander of the Replacement Army). Translators were trained in this department. In 1942, the Oberfinanzpräsidenten (Senior Finance Presidents) were instructed to provide the Dolmetscher-Lehr-Abteilung with foreign-language literature, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, lexicons, and specialist literature free of charge.

Typewritten document; handwritten note in pencil in the upper right corner. — Decree by the Reichminister der Finanzen on the free transfer of foreign-language books, 1 July 1942. BLHA, Rep. 36A (II) no. 55202, fol. 59

Reichstauschstelle im Reichsministerium für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung (Reich Exchange Office in the Reich Ministry of Science, Education, and Culture)

The main purpose of the Reichstauschstelle, established in 1926, was to supply libraries with books.

During World War II, the Reichstauschsstelle rebuilt libraries that had been destroyed by the war. It was heavily involved in the looting of books and their distribution to public libraries.

Of particular interest for the Reichstauschstelle in the Reichsministerium für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung (Reich Exchange Office in the Reich Ministry of Science, Education, and Culture) interest were German classics and German-language and foreign literature. The Reichstauschstelle acquired some of the books free of charge from the assets of deportees and refugees administered by the Vermögensverwertungsstelle.

Typed document — Request by the Reichstauschstelle for the transfer of confiscated German classics and book collections from the assets of deportees and expatriates, 21 May 1942. Berlin State Archive, A Rep. 093-03 no. 54683, fol. 39

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (State Museums of Berlin)

From the Department of Antiquities to the Coin Cabinet: various collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (State Museums of Berlin) left their mark in the files of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle.

First and foremost, the expertise of the museum staff was called for. Sometimes such an expert opinion was followed by a purchase made by the respective department – as shown by the cases of Emil Julius Gumbel’s coin collection and Ferdinand Mainzer’s collection of antiquities.

In 1934, Kurt Regling, director of the Coin Cabinet at the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, acquired some of the coins from Emil Julius Gumbel’s confiscated property for the museum’s collection after having them appraised.

Parts of Ferdinand Mainzer’s collection of antiquities found their way into the antiquities department of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in 1943 before the collection was put up for auction.

Typewritten cover letter with letterhead of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, signed. — Letter from Kurt Regling to the Finanzamt Moabit-West (Moabit-West Tax Office) regarding the Gumbel coin collection, 25 September 1934 BLHA, Rep. 36A (II) no. 13017, fol. 71

Maschinenschriftliches Dokument: Auflistung von neunzehn Positionen, unten und links handschriftliche Anmerkungen.

Nineteen antiquities from the collection of Ferdinand Mainzer for the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1 March 1943. BLHA, Rep. 36A (II) 24852, fol. 36 36

How was the Islamic Department of the Staatliche Museen involved in the sale of Oskar Skaller’s art collection?

Führer Museum Linz

For a Führer Museum that was to be built in Linz, the "Sonderauftrag Linz" (Special Commission Linz) was created as a separate organisation to collect special works of art for the museum. Comparatively late, the "Sonderauftrag Linz" secured access to art and cultural assets looted by the Nazi financial administration. Only a few files have survived that document the active selection of objects for the museum collection by the Vermögensverwertungsstelle.

One of the few documents containing an instruction relating to the "Sonderauftrag Linz" has been preserved in the Vermögensverwertungsstelle’s holdings. The file on Frieda Bradt contains a copy of a letter from the Reichminister der Finanzen (Reich Minister of Finance) dated July 1943. In it, he informs all Oberfinanzpräsidenten of the priority status of the Sonderauftrag. In addition to works of art and art collections, coin and medal collections now also fell under the what was known as the Führervorbehalt (Führer prerogative).

Typewritten document in landscape format. — Transcript of the letter from the Reichsminister der Finanzen to the Oberfinanzpräsidenten, 16 July 1943. BLHA, Rep. 36A (II) no. 4162, fol. 57

Index card, written in various hands — Back of the property card issued by the Central Collecting Point in Munich for the still life by Ludwig Adam Kunz, 24 October 1945. BArch, 323/666, p. 540

In most cases, the artworks ended up with the Sonderauftrag through other channels, such as official auctions or the art market. One example is the case of the still life by Ludwig Adam Kunz from the estate of Paul Jakob Eisner.

The art dealer Maria Almas-Dietrich acquired the still life in May 1941 at the forced auction held by Hans W. Lange. She then sold the painting on to the Führer Museum, as can be seen from the index card kept at the Central Collecting Point in Munich in 1945.