Acquisitions made by the city of Brunswick from Jewish/aryanized galleries in the occupied Netherlands and in occupied Belgium 1941–1945

In its second provenance research project, the Municipal Museum in Brunswick organized an investigation of the acquisitions made by the city of Brunswick from Jewish/aryanized galleries in the occupied Netherlands in 1941–1945. A Belgian company was also initially included in the project on purchases from foreign Jewish art dealers because there was a reasonable suspicion that this might have been a Jewish gallery. This suspicion was not confirmed during the course of the research, however. In total, 29 objects from the following six companies were included in the provenance research project: Jacob Stodel, Mozes Mogrobi, Keezer & Zoon, S. E. Mossel, all Amsterdam; J. Moses, the Hague and Severin Frères, Brussels. Walter Dexel also appeared as a buyer on behalf of the city of Brunswick. The acquired objects were part of the Brunswick form collection; this is now held in the Municipal Museum in Brunswick.

In line with the experiences of the Dutch Restitutiecommissie (Restitutions Committee), it became clear during the project work how difficult it is to make assessments in cases where art dealers are possible former owners, i.e. individuals whose profession was trading, buying and selling—including during periods of persecution. The dualism between law and morality is particularly apparent here.

At the end of the project it was clear that, based on the results achieved to date, it was not possible to unambiguously classify the objects at the Municipal Museum in Brunswick which had been obtained from Jewish art dealers in the Netherlands. The obvious lack of substantial business records has a negative impact here, as does the fact that very little is known about the business practices of these galleries. The question therefore remains open for the time being whether the objects come from the stock (or private collection) of the art dealers themselves, i.e. from their property, or whether they are objects sold on commission. Should the objects originate from the property of the Jewish galleries, this raises the still unanswered question—in line with the priority principle—concerning their previous provenance (to January 30, 1933 or May 10, 1940), which may be questionable or problematic.

Irrespective of this, the fact remains that the Jewish art dealers are the last known former owners to date. On that basis and due to the intense pressure of persecution stemming from anti-Jewish regulations imposed by the German occupying force in the Netherlands, the associated “aryanizations” (“Wirtschaftsentjudungsverordnung” of March 21, 1941, i.e. the regulation requiring the removal of Jews from business and industry) and the resulting fact that the Jewish art dealers, depending on the circumstances, could not freely access the sales proceeds at least in the medium and long term (the “Liro Verordnungen” of August 8, 1941/May 21, 1942, administrator/trustee, liquidation, flight, deportation), the acquisitions made by the city of Brunswick from Jewish/aryanized galleries in the occupied Netherlands in 1941–1945 are, as such, considered very likely to be questionable to problematic to varying degrees—although fundamentally, however, there is a varying need for explanation and research.

The provenance research activities at the Municipal Museum in Brunswick were addressed in the exhibition “Konstruierte Welten. Walter Dexel 1890–1973” (November 2014 to February 2015) and in the accompanying exhibition catalog.

(c) Städtische Museum Braunschweig