Cloppenburg museum village during the period of National Socialist rule—collection history in its institutional context

Established in 1934, Cloppenburg museum village is one of the oldest open-air museums in Germany, and the oldest village museum of this size and layout. The museum’s collections can be traced back to the activities of the Oldenburg Münsterland homeland association established in 1918, and to those of a museum association formed in 1921. These collecting activities were put on a completely new footing with the founding of an open-air museum of an unprecedented size in Germany, a move initiated by the National Socialist Oldenburg state government in 1933/34. Acquired as a priority for the collection were houses and parts of farmsteads, workshops, windmills and a manor house. All of them were moved from their original locations and rebuilt in the grounds of the museum village. The searching and collecting activities extended far beyond the boundaries of the Oldenburg Münsterland region. Until now, no investigation had been carried out into the museum’s collecting activities and its priorities and objectives, nor into the financial and organizational support provided by state, municipal and private stakeholders. The registry and, most importantly, the museum director’s extensive duty diary together with the museum’s own sources, provided a detailed basis on which to decipher the collection history in the political context of the time. Parallel records in the museum community, in municipal association and society archives, and in the files of the State and Federal Archives were explored with the primary aim of clarifying the motives, occasions and circumstances of object acquisitions, and the financial, political and administrative support for the handover of objects—including political pressure.The holdings at Cloppenburg museum village mainly contain everyday items that generally cannot be attributed to any particular creator or manufacturer. They are not listed in art or antiques trade catalogs, nor in relevant specialist literature. There were no comprehensively documented specific acquisitions. Equally, significant collectors or special works with an acquisition history indicating unlawfully confiscated cultural property could not be found in the listings of receipts. The aspects outlined here posed particular challenges for provenance researchers at the museum village, with the focus primarily on “anomalies” among the acquisition circumstances of the over 9,000 objects that entered the museum in the period between 1933 and 1945/46.

The project in numbers

Provenance for the period 1933–1945 can be reconstructed and is not suspicious. It can be proven that the item is not Nazi-confiscated property and further investigation is not required: 5,384
Provenance is not entirely clear for the period 1933–1945. There are gaps in provenance, or it cannot be considered unsuspicious with certainty. The origin needs to be researched further: 3,330
Provenance for the period 1933–1945 is questionable as there are indications that the item was seized in connection with Nazi persecution. There is an urgent need for further research into the origin of the item: 328
Provenance is unequivocally suspicious for the period 1933–1945. In addition to searching for living heirs who are entitled to the item, a report must be entered in the Lost Art Database: 3

List of persons and institutions that are historically relevant to the project

· Dr. Heinrich Ottenjann, Museum Director of Cloppenburg museum village

· Carl Röver, Reich Governor in Oldenburg-Bremen; Paul Wegener, Reich Governor in Oldenburg-Bremen

· Alfred Ernst Rosenberg—Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce (ERR)

· Johann Heinrich Adolph Böhmker (SA Commander, Governing Mayor of Bremen)

· Wilhelm Frick (Reich and Prussian Minister of the Interior)

· Franz von Galen, Politician

· Konrad Hahm, Museum Director of the Staatliches Museum für Deutsche Volkskunde in Berlin; Institut für Deutsche Volkskunde

· Dr. Glasmeier, Reich Director of Deutscher Rundfunk

· Dr. Friedrich Castelle, Reichssender Cologne

· Director General Dr. Johann Welcker, Duisburg

· Professor G. J. Kern, Berlin-Friedenau

· Senior Government Building Officer Wohlschläger

· Sculptor Paul Dierkes

· Senior Civil Servant Grebe, Weser-Ems District Representative in Berlin

Institutions:

· Landesfürsorgeverband Oldenburg (body responsible for Cloppenburg museum village from 1944)

· Terra-Filmkunst GmbH, Berlin UFA, Berlin (Universum-Film AG)

· Reichssender Hamburg

· Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro

· Deutsches Propaganda-Atelier

· Institut für Deutsche Volkskunde, Tübingen

· Staff office of Reichsbauernführer (Reich Peasant Leader)

· Nordwestdeutscher Verband für Altertumsforschung

· Administrative office of Reichsbauernführer (Reich Peasant Leader)

· Historische Kommission Münster

· Reichsbund des Deutschen Handwerks

· Gaupropagandaamt Weser-Ems

· Heimatbund Nordsee

· Gauforschungsstelle deutscher Bauernhof (Cloppenburg museum village as “model research center for the district”)

· Museum Director Heinrich Ottenjanns in his capacity as state museum keeper for the Weser-Ems district

Antique and second-hand goods dealers:

· S. L. Landsberg (Oldenburg)

· Heinrich Scholten (Nordhorn)

· Scholten family (Wesel)

· Johann Kohlem (Damme)

· Adolph Hess, coin dealership (Osnabrück)

· Wilhelm Schmitz (Lorup)

· Adolph Meyer (Osnabrück)

· Dykgers-Schade (Essen i. O.)

· Händler Flerlage (Ermke)

· Händler Schlick (Alfhausen)

· Julius Leiber-Vogelsang (Damme)

· Pypol (Neuscharrel)

Auctioneers:

· August Reudnik (Cloppenburg)

· B. Diekmann (Essen i. O.)

· Menke (Vechta)

· Otto Hausig (Osnabrück)

· Carl Brinkhoff (Nordhorn)

(c) Stiftung Museumsdorf Cloppenburg