Nazi Art Looting in the Records of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle Berlin
Forwarding companies and warehouses benefited in many ways from the theft of property during the Nazi era.
Name: Willy Kulka Internationale- und Überseetransporte, Spedition + Möbeltransport + Speicherei
Owner: Willy Kulka
Duration: Established 1909
Business address: Bamberger Straße 51, Berlin W 50 (Mitte)
Traces in the files: Storage and transport of emigrants' belongings.
Name: Edmund Vetter Internationale Spedition
Duration: Still active after 1945.
Business address(es): Mittelstraße 30 /Schadowstraße 2, Berlin NW 7 (Mitte)
Traces in the files: Stored emigrants' belongings. So far, only found in approximately 20 files of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle (Asset Realisation Office).
Name: Schenker & Co.
Duration: 1872 until today. 1931 Takeover by the Deutsche Reichsbahn, from then on exclusive rights for delivery and collection for rail transport.
Business address(es): Ritterstraße 98/99, Berlin SW 68 (Kreuzberg); Speersort, Hamburg
Traces in the files: Transport and storage of confiscated belongings of emigrants and deportees.
Name: Kopania u. Co.
Owner: Bruno Altrichter (1942)
Duration: Founded in 1908, until today. Still family-owned.
Business address(es): Bergstraße 91, Berlin (Steglitz)
Traces in the files: Transport and storage of confiscated belongings of emigrants and deportees
Name: W. Heimann KG für Internationale Speditionen; ab 1941: INTRAG Internationale Transport Gesellschaft
Duration: Since 1931. 1941 „Arisierung“ (Aryanisation) by INTRAG Internationale Transport Gesellschaft
Business address(es): Lindenstraße 69, Berlin SW 68 (Kreuzberg)
Traces in the files: Mainly stored removal goods for emigrants intended for shipment. The files clearly show the date of „Arisierung“: the name was changed in 1941, but the address remained the same.
Name: Haberling, Robert Haberling & Co, Internationale Spedition - Lagerhäuser
Duration: 1907 to the present day
Business address(es): Kreuzbergstraße 39, Berlin SW 61 (Kreuzberg)
Traces in the files: Transport and storage of home furnishings, including several cases of art objects
Name: Gustav Knauer Spedition – Möbeltransport – Lagerung
Duration: Unkown
Business address(es): Wichmannstraße 7-8, Berlin W 62 (Tiergarten); 8 Rue Halévy, Paris; Walfischgasse 15, Wien; Friedrich-Karl-Straße 21, Breslau (today Wrocław))
Traces in the files: Frequent transport of works of art. There was an art department set up specifically for transporting art. Some of the files contain originals of the storage lists of removal goods at the Gustav Knauer company.
Name: Adolf Göritz Möbeltransport
Duration: Established in 1906
Business address(es): Adalbertstraße 7, Berlin SO 36 (Kreuzberg)
Traces in the files: Stored removal goods or even entire home furnishings. On the instructions of the Nazi authorities, transported goods from his warehouse to the Kottbusser Ufer, for example, for liquidation. As a „Bombengeschädigter“ (bomb victim), acquired property belonging to those who had been persecuted.
Name: Fritz Roth Spedition und Lagerei
Duration: From 1940 Fritz Roth Spedition und Lagerei. Previously „Internationales Speditionsbureau Georg Silberstein & Co“, then „arisiert“ (aryanised) by the public limited company „Züngst & Bachmeier, Eigentümer Hans Züngst“.
Business address(es): Reichenberger Straße 154, Berlin SO 36 (Kreuzberg); Kottbusser Ufer 39/40, Berlin SO 36 (Kreuzberg)
Traces in the files: Stored emigrants' removal goods intended for shipment. Also appeared in one file as an auctioneer and in several files as a buyer.
Name: Edmund Franzkowiak & Co. – Internationale Transporte
Owner: Edmund Franzkowiak, Lothar Kurzhals
Duration: Date of establishment unknown, probably active until the 1970s.
Business address(es): Uhlandstraße 83-84, Berlin (Wilmersdorf); Pfalzburger Straße 43-48, Berlin (Wilmersdorf); Katharinenkirchhof 1-5, Hamburg
Traces in the files: Mainly stored emigrants' belongings that were planned for shipment. Actively reported to the tax authorities that he was managing „feindliches Vermögen“(enemy property)’ thereby drawing the authorities' attention to the belongings.
