Archives: Persons

Disenfranchisement, persecution, deportation

Hugo Loewy first lost his ribbon factory, which was liquidated in 1937, as a result of antisemitic persecution measures. At the end of May 1942, he was forced to leave his flat in Pommersche Straße and move into a partially furnished room in the “Jüdischen Pension” (Jewish boarding house) run by Else Isaac at Kurfürstendamm 195. Else Isaac herself was also persecuted as a Jewish woman. Loewy took several items from his old flat with him to the “Pension” (boarding house), including some artworks.

Loewy lived at Kurfürstendamm for only a few months. On 31 August 1942, he was ordered by the Geheime Staatspolizei Berlin (Berlin Secret State Police, Gestapo) to report to the Sammellager Große Hamburger Straße 26 and complete a Vermögenserklärung (declaration of assets).

Retrospectively issued transport card to Treblinka, 20 September 1942. Arolsen Archives, Ghetto Theresienstadt index cards, DocID: 5061748

Family Loewy

Fritz Loewy had been co‑owner of the ribbon factory with his father, Hugo Loewy, and fled with his wife, Sylvia Loewy‑Garai, to Oslo in August 1940. There, he was arrested by the German occupiers. Sylvia Loewy‑Garai was largely protected by her US citizenship. Although she was briefly imprisoned, she survived the detention and escaped to Sweden. Hugo Loewy’s daughter, Käthe Löwenstein, had also escaped persecution through flight: in 1938 she had married the physician Dr Hans Löwenstein and emigrated with him to the United States.

Disappeared into private ownership

On the basis of Schmidt‑Bangel’s appraisal, the Vermögensverwertungsstelle decided to “verwerten” (liquidate) two of the paintings through direct sale. No public auction took place.

A receipt dated 28 December 1942 documents the sale of the painting by H. E. Pohle – referred to in the appraisals as “‘Einsamer Reiter’ or ‘Reiter in Landschaft’” (solitary rider, rider in landscape) – at the higher valuation of 550 reichsmarks to SS‑Obersturmführer Johannes Schertl. Schertl had already acquired a carpet and an open bookcase from Loewy’s property.

Johannes Schertl used his privileged position as an SS‑Obersturmführer to profit from Jewish property stolen by the state.

The painting Schottische Landschaft/Landschaft mit Flusslauf und bewaldetem Ufer (Scottish Landscape/Landscape with River Course and Wooded Bank) was purchased by Käthe Malzbender, the wife of the auditor Ludwig Malzbender. She paid the price of 1,800 reichsmarks using a power of attorney issued to her by her husband. Ludwig Malzbender was in close contact with the Vermögensverwertungsstelle; in its files he appears as an appraiser and administrator of assets.

Both paintings thus passed directly into the private ownership of individuals who profited directly from the National Socialist system and built their careers within it. After entering their possession, the trail of the paintings disappeared. Whether the works remained with the buyers’ families or were sold on cannot be reconstructed on the basis of the files of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle.

The National Socialist state obtained a total of 2,350 reichsmarks from the sale of the two paintings by Pohle and Priestman from Loewy’s property.

“Jüdischer Konsulent” (Jewish consultant)

Max Michaelis was admitted as a lawyer at the Berlin Court of Appeal and also worked as a notary. But from 1933 onwards, he and Edith Michaelis were persecuted by the National Socialist state as Jewish. From 1938, Max Michaelis was only permitted to work as a “Konsulent” (consultant), which was not comparable to his previous professional practice: Jewish lawyers had their licences revoked and were only allowed to advise and represent Jewish clients. Furthermore, a substantial share of the fees had to be paid to the Reich Chamber of Lawyers. This money was administered by the specially established Ausgleichsstelle (Compensation Office).

Michaelis also represented neighbours from the house at Kurfürstendamm 185, including Jacob Intrator and his wife Rosa, as well as Erich and Martha Kaufmann, who were likewise persecuted as Jewish. Max Michaelis also had his office rooms in the apartment at Kurfürstendamm 185.

The “bevorzugte” “Verwertung” (preferred liquidation)

Following the receipt of the Vermögenserklärungen from Max and Edith Michaelis by the Vermögensverwertungsstelle, the tax officials began their work. They opened a file on the couple in which they documented the “Vermögensverwertung” (asset liquidation). On the first page of the file – a kind of overview sheet for the officials – the handwritten note “bevorzugt” (preferred) appears next to the names and address of the persecuted couple. Does this indicate that the couple’s property to be treated as “bevorzugte”?

Insight into the background of why the apartment and furnishings of Max and Edith Michaelis were to receive special treatment is provided by a letter from the Continentale Öl Aktiengesellschaft to the Oberfinanzpräsident (Senior Finance President) dated 11 July 1942:

The apartment in which Max and Edith Michaelis had lived was intended for use by the Continentale Öl Aktiengesellschaft. The company stated that it required the rooms to carry out a task assigned by General Field Marshal and Reich Minister of Economics Hermann Göring. Göring had ordered the Continentale Öl Aktiengesellschaft to secure, administer, and economically exploit oil deposits, extraction facilities, and oil companies in territories occupied or influenced by the German Reich, and to ensure the supply of fuel essential to the war effort. The apartment was presumably intended to serve as office space.

As early as 2 July 1942, about a week after the deportation of the couple, the Vermögensverwertungsstelle therefore began to “verwerten” the household furnishings piece by piece. The authority sold the couple’s property directly from the apartment at Kurfürstendamm 185.

Deposit slip, 8 July 1942. BLHA, Rep. 36A (II) no. 26893, fol. 35