Profiteer Category: Auction houses and auctioneers

Appointed by the tax authorities to handle the sales, auction houses and auctioneers profited from the sale of confiscated items.

Bernhard Schlüter

Name: Bernhard Schlüter

Duration: Auctioneer in Berlin since 1919, according to his own statements, he conducted „vorwiegend Pfandversteigerungen u. Versteigerungen für Behörden“ (mainly pawn auctions and auctions for public authorities).

Business address: Grunewaldstraße 70, Berlin (Schöneberg); Leipziger Straße 19, Berlin W 8 (Mitte)

Traces in the files: From 1941 to 1943, he conducted auctions of stolen property: first on behalf of the Finanzamt Moabit-West (Moabit-West tax office) and then on behalf of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle (Asset realisation office), including entire home furnishings

Printed letterhead in Gothic script
Letterhead of auctioneer Bernhard Schlüter. BLHA, Rep. 36A (II) 36160, fol. 18.

Look at the Oskar Skaller case

Auktionshaus Alfred Berkhan

Name: Auktionshaus Alfred Berkhan

Owner: Alfred Berkhan

Duration: At least since 1928

Business address: Spichernstraße 3, Berlin W 50 (Mitte)

Traces in the files: Auctions of art objects and home furnishings

Excerpt from a document with pre-printed letterhead
Letterhead Alfred Berkhan. BLHA, Rep. 36A (II) 13095, fol. 16
Excerpt from a page in the address book. Rectangle containing name (partially in capital letters), address and contact details.
Entry in the 1942 Berlin address book. Berliner Adressbuch 1942, Teil II, p. 650.

Auction houses and auctioneers

Appointed by the tax authorities to handle the sales, auction houses and auctioneers profited from the sale of confiscated items in two ways.

On the one hand, the regular orders ensured their economic survival in the changing art market of the Nazi era.

In addition, they charged a 10 per cent fee for their services, which they deducted directly from the auction proceeds. They retained this commission before transferring the proceeds to the tax authorities.

Typewritten final invoice with printed letterhead of auctioneer Gerhard Harms, signed.
Auctioneer Gerhard Harms lists under II the auction fee of 6,508 reichsmarks for the property of Hugo Aufrichtig, 10 March 1941. BLHA, Rep. 36A (II) no. 1445, fol. 69