The Mystery of Hitler's Lost Art Collection

DW-World.de
Deutsche Welle
About us
Press
Business & Sales
DW-Akademie
DW-STORE
Contact
Help
Partner
Site map
Archive
Extended Search
YOUR LINK TO GERMANY
03.05.2009
HOME

NEWS
World
Germany
Europe
Business
Culture & Lifestyle
Art & Architecture
Sports
GERMANY INFO
Visit Germany
Study in Germany
Map
Weather
GERMAN COURSES
Learning German
Deutsch unterrichten
German XXL
DW-RADIO
What's On?
Programs
Reception
Audio on Demand
DW-TV
What's On?
Programs
Program Guide
Reception
Video on Demand
INTERACTIVE
Reader Response
Newsletters
Web Tools and Services
Podcasting
Mobile
About DW-WORLD.DE

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE | 24.08.2005
The Mystery of Hitler's Lost Art Collection



Hitler ordered thousands of artefacts to be collected for his museum
Art experts have long been fascinated with the story of Adolf Hitler's dream of creating a huge museum in the Austrian city of Linz. A new book looks at where the Nazi leader's collection came from -- and where it went.


It remains at the center of one of World War II's most enduring mysteries: Hitler's intended National Socialist museum of art in the Austrian city of Linz was a dream that was never fully realized by the Führer although many thousands of art works were obtained for the project.

Speculation has always surrounded the origins of the dictator's collection but since the war ended, this has only intensified as experts attempt to discover where many of the works disappeared to.

Berlin historian Hanns Christian Löhr is the latest to examine the mystery behind the alleged stolen art which was destined for the Linz museum and what happened after the Allies "liberated" the artifacts in his book, "The Brown House of Art."

In 1943, Hitler created the Sonderauftrag Linz (Special Assignment Linz) to set up an art collection for the Austrian city of the same name on the banks of the Danube river. Almost exclusively financed by funds earned through sales of Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" and from special stamps showing his portrait, the Linz collection was more or less the private affair of the Führer.

In an attempt to protect the collection from the intensive bombing campaigns of the final years of the conflicts, many of these works were stored in salt mine caverns near Linz. But as the imminent German defeat approached, the Nazi commandant of the facility ordered the salt mines and artworks destroyed.

Allies liberation led to the loss of many works


Fortunately, no wholesale destruction occurred and the majority of the collection was confiscated by the Allied forces which had already begun to bring works of art recovered from various depots to special collection points where a system was set up to find the legal owners.

However, not all the artifacts were returned.

Speaking in Berlin on Tuesday, Löhr said that his new book reopens the debate as to what became of the art that never found its way home and that the revelations were "explosive." Löhr suggested that some artworks which hang in museums and collections in Berlin have the mark of an original, legal owner somewhere in their history.

Stolen art unwittingly bought all over the world

It's been suggested that after the war, many of the missing works passed through the federal government in Bonn and the Austrian federal government as well as private collections in both countries while others ended up in the hands of art thieves.


Charlene von Saher points to the painting once owned by her grandfather titled, "The Temptation of St. Anthony," in New York. The painting is part of an extensive collection of Old Master art that was stolen by the Nazis in Holland 60 years ago.
Löhr's research has unearthed 191 missing artifacts from a previously unknown catalogue from the Linz collection, with paintings from the collection turning up in France, the Netherlands and as far afield as the United States.

As well as the current whereabouts of the collection, the book addresses the question as to where the paintings originated from and how they were procured.

Author agrees that few paintings were looted


Hermann Göring: Art lover
While Hermann Voss, the supervisor of the Special Assignment Linz, and Gottfried Reimer the collection's co-curator, maintained that only 53 of the 4,353 pictures collected for the museum in Linz were confiscated works -- procured by Hermann Göring (photo) in Paris -- rumors during and after the war suggested that much of the collection had been stolen or seized by occupying Nazi soldiers across Europe.

Löhrs research backs up the claims of the curators by saying that only a small part of the collection -- possibly 12 percent -- came from seizures or expropriations.

Even if this is true, the Nazis were responsible for much of the art stolen, and then subsequently lost, during and after World War II. The on-going search for the artifacts and the quest for compensation for the legal owners in most of these cases goes on.


DW staff (nda)

SEND US AN E-MAIL »SEND »PRINT »
DW-WORLD.DE
The Hassles of Returning Stolen Art
A long legal wrangle in Germany over the return of three paintings seized by the Nazis was resolved on Wednesday. But many cases remain unsolved and bitter feuds prevent other paintings being returned. (March 3, 2005)
Germany Wants Russia to Return Rubens
Germany and Russia on Monday discussed the return of "trophy art" seized by the Soviet Union after World War II. Still, Berlin has little hope of recovering a priceless Rubens painting owned by a Russian businessman. (Dec. 21, 2004)
Commission To Track, Return Art Stolen by the Nazis
A government commission has been charged with the controversial task of tracking down and returning art stolen by the Nazis to its rightful owners. But critics are casting doubt on the commission's chances for success. (July 14, 2004)
FEEDBACK
If you would like to comment on this or any other article on DW-WORLD, then please contact us with your full name and country.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

DW-TV EUROPE live

DW-RADIO LIVE
Network Europe Extra
Listen live
PHOTOGRAPHY

Aerial photographer Gerhard Launer takes film to new heights.
Watch the report
ART

Hear from top UK artist David Hockney, who focuses on landscape in his new German show.
Listen to the report
CLASSICAL MUSIC

Listen live
DW presents live performances of the German Symphony Orchestra.
NEWS QUIZ

Win a Prize
Review recent news stories for a chance to win a prize.
PODCASTING

Beethovenfest
DW brings you free podcasts from the event, including Kurt Masur conducting Beethoven.
WORD OF THE WEEK

Learn a funny, quirky German word each week.
Word of the Week
DW PARTNER
Choir Festival
A unique and successful series of international competitions, organised by the Interkultur E.V.
DW PARTNER SITE
Let's talk European!
Sign and Sight
© DW 2009
English
German
Chinese
Spanish
Portuguese for Brazil
Arabic
Russian
Persian
Albanian
Amharic
Bengali
Bosnian B/H/S
Bulgarian
Croatian
Dari
French
Greek
Hausa
Hindi
Indonesian
Kiswahili
Macedonian
Pashto
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Serbian
Turkish
Ukrainian
Urdu