Restitution in the name of the parents
Oskar and Lea Skaller died within a short time of one another in 1944, after an arduous flight via England to South Africa. Their daughters, Hanna Judith Warner, née Skaller, and Marianne Cassirer, née Skaller, survived in exile.
In the 1950s, they submitted claims for “Rückerstattung” (restitutionReturn of confiscated property to its rightful owners or their heirs.) for the property stolen from their parents.
The artworks 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 from the architect Wilhelm Wagner by the Geheime Staatspolizei(EN) Politische Polizei in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, die politische Gegner*innen sowie Jüdinnen*Juden überwachte und verfolgte. (Secret State Police, Gestapo(EN) Politische Polizei in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, die politische Gegner*innen sowie Jüdinnen*Juden überwachte und verfolgte.), primarily Persian ceramics, also became part of the restitutionReturn of confiscated property to its rightful owners or their heirs. proceedings.
The files of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle (Asset Realisation Office) served as evidence of the theft and sale of the objects by the financial administration.
Settlement instead of return
Although some buyers were known by name, the authorities refrained from locating them.
Wilhelm Wagner submitted a sworn declaration during the proceedings regarding his purchase of the Skaller household furnishings. In it, he listed the individual items he had acquired. However, he did not mention the “14 Stücke antike Keramik” (fourteen pieces of antique ceramics) that he had purchased exclusively from the Vermögensverwertungsstelle in 1943. He was not called again as a witness or questioned further during the proceedings.
However, on the list […] a doll is mentioned which, according to my findings, is located in the Islamic Department of the Museum of Ethnology in the Eastern sector.
Sworn declaration by Hanna Judith Warner, née Skaller, 11 February 1960. Landesarchiv Berlin, B Rep. 025-08, Nr. 2121/55, Bl. 66
The authorities did not follow up on this clue regarding the possible whereabouts of one of the ceramics. The museum holding the “Puppe” (doll) was located in East Berlin and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the Wiedergutmachungsämter.
After eleven years, several expert reports and repeated submissions by the applicants, all proceedings ended in 1961, when the sisters agreed to a settlement regarding the removal goods and the lost artworks.
None of the missing objects was returned to the Skaller sisters during the proceedings.
And today?
To this day, most of the objects from the Skaller family’s property documented in the files of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle are considered missing.
The often imprecise descriptions of the items – such as the Persian ceramics – in the expert reports produced during the National Socialist period make precise identification, and thus restitutionReturn of confiscated property to its rightful owners or their heirs., difficult.
The descendants of Oskar and Lea Skaller continue to search for their art collection. Several of the missing artworks are listed in search notices in the Lost Art DatabaseThe database of the German Lost Art Foundation is a central German online database documenting cultural property that was relocated, confiscated, or stolen during the Nazi era and is still considered missing today. More of the German Lost Art Foundation. There is still no trace of the Persian ceramics.
From time to time, other objects from the Skaller collection appear on the art market. In 2023, for example, the painting Liegender weiblicher Akt (Reclining Female Nude) by Lovis Corinth – purchased by Dr Conrad Doebbecke from the Vermögensverwertungsstelle – surfaced in the Munich art trade.
Before the auction, an agreement was reached between the descendants of Oskar and Lea Skaller and the owner at the time through the mediation of the Neumeister auction house. Today, the painting is held in the Würth Collection.