The collections of the von Portheim Foundation and their “utilization” during the Nazi era

Initial questions

The Josefine and Eduard von Portheim Foundation for Science and Art, which was founded in December 1919, was the body responsible for the Völkerkundemuseum vPST. It was designed as an independent network of research institutions, some of which were furnished with extensive collections. Aryanization and realignment during the Nazi era had profound implications for the character of the foundation. In terms of collections, the loss of substantial stocks was a consequence of instrumentalization in line with Nazi ideology.

One of the core tasks of the project is to explore the relevant files in order to document the confiscated collection holdings and determine their whereabouts. The strategies of this “utilization” and the networks involved are also to be researched.

The project in numbers

The following numbers reflect the level of knowledge at the end of the funding period and, for the most part, are not to be considered definitive at this stage. The size of each of the collection bundles to be examined was not known, but is itself a result of the research and could only be reconstructed to the extent permitted by the documentation.

Coin collection: min. 1,200 objects; completely lost.

Prehistoric collection: approx. 13,500 object numbers available, of which approx 12,800 are on permanent loan to the Institute of Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Heidelberg. No indicators for more extensive losses compared with the original size of the collection between 1933 and 1945.

Graphics collection: approx 700 incunabula, old prints and handwritten documents; approx. 160 numbers of miniatures and single-leaf prints (equating to around 400+ items); graphic prints, drawings and other objects (around 2,300+ items); largely/completely “utilized”.

Folklore collection: at least 4,500 objects, of which 300 objects are in the museum; the whereabouts of 4,200 unknown. In addition, there are: a collection-related image archive (an estimated 20,000 photos and slides), of which 650 are in the museum and the whereabouts of the others is unknown; a folkloristic specialist library (approx. 12,000 books and journal volumes), whereabouts largely unknown; a collection of historic playing cards (min. 888 individual cards and sets of 42 and 48 cards), whereabouts largely unknown.

Paintings: 55 paintings, of which 19 are available and 36 are missing.

Persons and institutions involved

The founders of the foundation were VICTOR GOLDSCHMIDT (1853–1933, crystallographer and polymath, chairman of the board of trustees 1919–1933) and his wife LEONTINE GOLDSCHMIDT, née von Portheim (1863–1942, chairwoman of the board of trustees 1933–1935), both of Jewish origin. They were mainly responsible for acquiring objects for the foundation’s collections up to 1933; these collections also included their extensive private collection holdings.

Of the numerous Foundation institutions, the most important in the context of the project were:

The Kristallographisches Institut (Crystallographic Institute) with the mineralogical collection, headed by Goldschmidt himself; after his death in 1933 until the closure of the institute in 1939/40 it was led by HANS HIMMEL (1897–[after 1970]), who had been the assistant at the institute since 1924.

The Ethnographisches Institut (Ethnographical Institute) later the “Abteilung für Auslandskunde und Ethnographische Sammlung” (Department of Foreign Studies and Ethnographical Collection), until 1939 led by ALFRED ZINTGRAFF (1878–1944, lawyer and diplomat), then until 1945 by WILHELM CLASSEN (1903–?, state philosopher and educator), who had taken over as deputy of the foreign department in 1938.

The Volkskundliches Institut (Folklore Institute), which was nominally under the aegis of EUGEN FEHRLE (1880–1957, classical philologist and folklorist) from around 1925 and was transferred into the university’s “Lehrstätte für deutsche Volkskunde” (German folklore lyceum), founded in 1935.

The Prähistorisches Institut (Prehistoric Institute), whose nominal head was ERNST WAHLE (1889–1981), but who was evidently not correspondingly active. After a great deal of effort, he succeeded in establishing his subject at the university in 1934. The Foundation institute was transformed into the university’s “Lehrstätte für Frühgeschichte” (early history lyceum).

At the University of Heidelberg—beyond the institutes mentioned—there was a whole series of other interrelationships of an institutional and personal nature. These included, for example, the Foreign Department (DAAD), the Institut für Auslandskunde (Institute of Foreign Studies), the partly independent Institut für Zeitungswissenschaften (Institute of Journalism Sciences) and the Volks- und Kulturpolitische Institut (Folk and Cultural-Political Institute) which was closed at the end of the war.

The Nationalsozialistischer Deutsche Studentenbund (National Socialist German Students’ Union, NSDStB), Heidelberg, had an impact that extended beyond foreign studies and into the leadership of the Foundation (namely: Zintgraff and Scheel).

The city of Heidelberg was involved in the development of the Foundation in various ways (memberships on board of trustees, culture/museum policy, real estate, local taxes).

Mainly responsible for the aryanization and, in some instances, the plundering of the Foundation from 1933 were, on the one hand, the individuals already briefly mentioned:

ALFRED ZINTGRAFF (NSDAP member) as a member of the board of trustees and Foundation director 1924–1935 and as the chairman of the board of trustees 1935–1939.

WILHELM CLASSEN (NSDAP and SS member, 1941 Foreign Office, 1942 senior expert in the Armed Forces High Command, after the war worked for the Federal Intelligence Services and other roles) as Foundation director 1939–1945 and a member of the board of trustees 1940–1945.

HANS HIMMEL (member of SA and NSDAP, leader of the student union, head of the faculty board, vice chancellor and member of senior management at the University of Heidelberg from 1933) as Foundation accountant 1934–1940.

EUGEN FEHRLE (NSDAP member, 1933–1935 senior ministerial official/head of higher education division in Baden education ministry) as a member of the board of trustees 1935–1945 and chairman of the board of trustees 1939–1940.

Other individuals that must be mentioned, and who were no less important, were:

GUSTAV ADOLF SCHEEL (1907–1979, doctor, member of SA, NSDAP and SS, Reich student leader, leader of NS German Students’ Union, honorary senator of the University of Heidelberg from 1936, from 1935 various official posts in security service/SD, Gauleiter of Salzburg from 1941) as a member of the board of trustees 1938–1945, chairman of the board of trustees 1940–1945.

HANS HERMANN ADLER (1891–1956, professor of journalism, 1933–1945 director of the Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Heidelberg, 1935 head of the university's press office, 1935–1945 director of the foreign department at the University of Heidelberg), member of the board of trustees 1935–1945, took over the management of the Foundation at the end of the war.

CARL NEINHAUS (1888–1965, lawyer, NSDAP member, mayor of Heidelberg 1928–1945 and 1952–1958, member of Baden-Württemberg state assembly 1950–1960, 1952 president of the state constitutional assembly and until 1960 president of the state parliament), member of the board of trustees 1934–1945 and again from 1955.

WILHELM GROH (1890–1964, member of SA and NSDAP, rector of the University of Heidelberg 1933–1937, 1937–1945 senior expert in the Reich Ministry of Education) as a member of the board of trustees 1934–1940.

PAUL SCHMITTHENNER (1884–1963, historian, 1925–1933 member of Baden state parliament, member of NSDAP and SS, 1938–1945 rector of the University of Heidelberg, 1940–1945 Baden minister of education and cultural affairs) as a member of the board of trustees 1944–1945.

FERDINAND HERRMANN (1904–1974, folklorist, NSDAP member), assistant in the Ethnographic Collection and the Institute of Folklore Studies 1931–1941, head of the Ethnographic Collection 1946–1969, Foundation accountant 1940/41, senior expert at the German Scientific Institute (DWI) in Sofia, Bulgaria 1941–1943 or 1944, member of the newly formed board of trustees 1955–1969.

The network that took over the Foundation and determined its development can be alternatively presented as:

University: G. A. Scheel and W. Classen (through this, links to Security Service (SD)/Reich Main Security Office (RSHA)/Armed Forces High Command (OKW), W. Groh, P. Schmitthenner, E. Krieck (rectors), E. Fehrle (through this, together with Schmitthenner, links to Baden state government), H. H. Adler.

Foundation: A. Zintgraff, H. Himmel (prior to 1933 in Foundation, from 1933 collaborating and co-opted in University).

City: C. Neinhaus.

Transparency

First and foremost, we want to publish the findings of these research activities as a monograph and also include them in the planned anniversary publication marking 100 years of the Foundation and museum. A number of exhibition concepts linked to the research project are currently under consideration.

The project has also been presented to the public—in the sense of an interim result—as part of the “Victor Goldschmidt Lectures”, the Völkerkundemuseum’s series of annual public lectures. The lecture entitled “Das Schicksal der Stiftungssammlungen während der NS-Zeit” (The fate of the Foundation’s collections during the Nazi era) was given on November 15, 2015 (followed by a report in the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung on November 17, 2015).

On February 22, 2016, the project was also presented at the conference “Provenienzforschung und Kulturgutschutz” (Provenance research and the protection of cultural goods) at the Landesmuseum Stuttgart (“Die Sammlungen der von Portheim-Stiftung und ihre ‘Verwertungen’ während der NS-Zeit”).

Separate essays on individual interesting results of the research which are slightly removed from the central question of the project have been prepared for publication and include: a contribution to the colorful object history of the Paleolithic carved drawing of a horse’s head from Laussel (Dordogne); a contribution to the reconstruction of a medieval script or the single-leaf print catalog of Werner Cohn, 1934 (see below).

Should any restitutions/returns of objects be made on the basis of the project’s results, we will publicize these individually.

The internal documentation will also be made accessible to external researchers on request.

© Völkerkundemuseum der Josefine und Eduard von Portheim-Stiftung (Heidelberg)