Acquisitions for the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum (formerly the Vaterländisches Museum/from 1935 Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum für Geschichte und Volkstum under Johannes Dürkop) between 1930 and 1944

In a short-term project that ran from October 2014 until April 2015, the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum (BLM) had its acquisitions from the period 1930–1944 examined in order to establish whether any of them had been seized from their owners as a result of Nazi persecution. The reasons for selecting this specific investigation period were, firstly, the NSDAP’s early involvement in government in the region of Brunswick after October 1930 and, secondly, the last entry (January 1944) to be made in the BLM receipt books before the end of the Second World War.

Accordingly, the review of the holdings related to all 1,101 acquisitions (including varied and often extensive collections) that were made between October 1, 1930 and January 12, 1944. The acquisitions are recorded in BLM receipt books 7 and 8 under the references ZG 2977 to ZG 4077. The variety of objects acquired during this period is vast, ranging from paintings through militaria to folkloristic objects and covering a wide sweep of Brunswick’s regional history.

Not included in the project were the extensive acquisitions made by the BLM’s Department of Prehistory and Early History (branch museum Kanzlei Wolfenbüttel). The BLM’s archaeological objects must be seen in another context linked to the Haus der Vorzeit, which was substantially equipped but not opened due to the war and required a separate investigation.

The persons who were historically relevant on the Brunswick side included the National Socialist prime minister of Brunswick, Dietrich Klagges (1891–1971), and the directors of the Vaterländisches Museum/Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum Karl Steinacker (1872–1944, director 1910–1935) and Johannes Dürkop (1905–1945, director 1935–1945). Among the dealers who sold objects to the museum, particular mention should be made of art dealer Erich Pfeiffer (died 1965), Hanover, and manuscript and autograph collector Walter Kittler (1894–1976), Dresden.

The vast majority of BLM acquisitions in the period 1930–1944 consists of citizens’ contributions (gifts, donations, bequests, etc.), which appear to originate from the respective family environment of the donor. To date, suspicions of cultural goods seized as a result of Nazi persecution have only been registered in very few, very specific and sometimes complicated individual cases. Evidence of cultural goods previously owned by Jews which were confiscated under Nazi persecution has not been found so far. The suspicions are focused in particular on “harmonized” or disbanded associations of a civic, trade union/professional, lodge or political nature. Questions relating to provenance history also remain regarding the comparatively few acquisitions the BLM made from traders. The same applies to individual objects which were transferred to the BLM from the Ministry of Finance.

A specific case exists in which there had been proceedings in a chamber of reparation in the 1950s. The case concerns an association and involves an unusual and complicated set of circumstances. The object in question is a historic weapon which is highly problematic to identify clearly. In this case, the BLM will initiate the necessary steps.

There are plans to publish the available research findings in a book.

(c) Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum