Investigation into the possible persecution-related Nazi confiscation of an art collection from Helene List, heir to the collection of Adolph List

The research project focused on the art collection of the Jewish industrialist Dr. Adolph List (1861–1938) in Magdeburg. In the first half of the 20th century, it was one of the most important private collections of applied arts in Germany.

The List collection consisting of over 3,000 individual items was mainly made up of European arts and crafts from the 13th to the 18th century: furniture, pewter, bronzes, silver, gold, glass, ivory and boxwood carvings, miniatures, enamel works, jewelry and clocks, embroidery, tapestries, stoneware, Italian majolica, Delft faience, porcelain, tin, church metalware and varia. It also contained paintings, principally from the 19th century, sculptures, earthenware and glassware, and pieces of classical antique jewelry.[1]

Very little research has been carried out on how Adolph List amassed his collection over the decades, i.e. at which auctions and for what prices he acquired masterpieces and who advised him as an art agent.

It is known only that the origins of the List collection go back to the last quarter of the 19th century. The Paris collection of decorative arts compiled by the Austrian art dealer Frédéric Spitzer (1815–1890), which was very famous at that time, served as an important model for the collection and for numerous other collections of this kind around 1900. After the Spitzer collection was auctioned in 1893, it can be proven that a number of items from it made their way from Paris to Magdeburg where they became part of List’s collection. These included an ivory group dating from around 1400 entitled “Christ being led by two armed Myrmidons” (List collection auction catalog, 1939, cat. no. 178).

There is evidence that List even kept a card index, though this was solely for his porcelain collection. It contained precise records about the date of acquisition and the origin of each item.

After the death of Adolph List († 1938), the collection, which was valued at around one million Reichsmarks, was auctioned off in two separate auctions by the Berlin auction house Hans W. Lange (Fig. 1). At the auction in March 1939, there were 973 items with approx. 2,000 individual objects.[2] At the second auction (1940), there were a further 569 items with around 1,000 individual objects.[3]

The collection of the Focke Museum—Bremer Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte today contains four items which were acquired for the Focke Museum at the List collection auction in 1939. They are two steins from the 16th and 17th century and two pieces of Böttger stoneware. These objects have been entered into the “found object” section of the Lost Art Database by the Focke Museum.

Short biography: Dr. Adolph List (1861–1938)

Born in Voronezh Governorate in southern Russia, Adolph Moritz List (Fig. 2) grew up in Leipzig where he attended high school from 1873 onward. After an apprenticeship of several years at various estates in the Prussian province of Brandenburg, he began studying chemistry at the university in Leipzig in 1882 and earned his doctorate in 1886.

In the same year, Adolph List and his cousin Constantin Fahlberg (1850–1910) established the world’s first saccharin factory (Kommanditgesellschaft Fahlberg, List & Co.) based in Salbke, near Magdeburg. List headed the company for many years as managing director and was appointed to the group’s Supervisory Board after his retirement in 1927. There was public uproar when List’s Jewish ancestry was revealed in April 1936 in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of Fahlberg-List AG Chemische Fabriken. The leaders of the local NSDAP regional administration, the German Labor Front and the armed forces consequently refused to participate in the celebrations. In the aftermath, Adolph List and his family repeatedly faced anti-Semitic hostility. During the “aryanization” of the company, Adolph List stepped down from his post as a member of the Supervisory Board in 1937 under pressure from the management.

Adolph List had married the daughter of a Leipzig industrialist in 1897 and the couple had four children. The List family lived in a prestigious town house (destroyed in the war) in the center of Magdeburg. Adolph List died on June 17, 1938 at the age of 76 in Magdeburg.

Provenance research:

There is evidence that Adolph List and various members of the List family were victims of Nazi injustice because of their Jewish origins. When Adolph List died in 1938, his collection was inherited by his non-Jewish wife who eventually put the artworks up for auction in 1939/40.

Due to the incomplete and sometimes contradictory state of the research and the unclear circumstances of the sale, there was initially a presumption that the List collection had been forcibly sold as a result of Nazi persecution.

The research project therefore aimed to establish the precise historical facts in order to enable this case to be considered and evaluated from an overall perspective, supported by extensive archive and literature searches. This would make it possible to assess whether there is a direct link between the events described above and the auction of the List collection and hence a loss of assets as a result of persecution.

In line with the “Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art” of December 3, 1998 and the “Declaration of the German federal government, German states and leading municipal associations to locate and return cultural goods confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution, especially those of Jewish ownership” of December 1999, it was essential during the provenance research to clarify the precise living conditions and financial circumstances of the List family at the time of the auction, i.e. to what extent did the Nazi regime have access to the List family’s assets and what measures were taken against the family which may have compelled them to sell the art collection (forced auction).

It was also checked whether perhaps “Verschleuderungsschaden” (damages due to underselling) had been incurred, i.e. whether the level of the auction prices was inappropriate, as it was not uncommon for interested parties at the “Jewish auctions”, as they were called back then, to take advantage of the opportunity to acquire masterpieces at extremely low prices.

All the findings of the research project have been captured and described in a detailed report which has been received by the German Lost Art Foundation in Magdeburg.

By Sven Pabstmann

[1] See the auction preview in: Weltkunst 11 (1939), p. 3.

[2] See “Die Sammlung List, Magdeburg. Europäisches Kunstgewerbe des 13. bis 18. Jahrhunderts. Beschrieben und eingeleitet von Otto von Falke. Versteigerung am 28., 29. und 30. März 1939.” Berlin 1939 (Hans W. Lange auction catalog). Digital copy at: link.

[3] See “Sammlung List, Magdeburg, II. Teil, Chinasammlung Prof. Wegener, Berlin, verschiedener Kunstbesitz: Gemälde alter und neuerer Meister, Möbel, Silber, Porzellan, Textilien, chinesische Bronzen, Keramik, Glas, Textilien, Rollbilder. Versteigerung am 25., 26. und 27. Januar 1940.” Berlin 1940 (Hans W. Lange auction catalog). Digital copy at: link.

© Focke-Museum, Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte in Bremen