The role of the Klemm and Thiemig auction houses, Leipzig, in utilizing the property of emigrants and deported Jewish citizens in the period 1933 to 1945

The aim of the project was to create a special finding aid for provenance research on the activities of the Klemm and Thiemig auction houses, Leipzig, in utilizing cultural property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property. Forming the basis for this work were documents relating to the Hans Klemm auction house (Leipzig), held in the Sächsisches Staatsarchiv (Saxony state archive) in Leipzig and Dresden, and files from the holdings of the Oberfinanzpräsident Leipzig.

The result of this work is a database in which it is possible to search all relevant data relating to the expropriation, free transfer, sale and acquisition of goods owned by victims of racial persecution.

The project has delivered new findings about the robbery of racially persecuted citizens in Leipzig and Central Germany. The Hans Klemm auction house functioned as a central transit office for distributing the property of racially persecuted citizens and, due to the fact that its business records have been largely preserved, it was possible for the forms and scale of property transfer and the roles of various stakeholders to be meticulously reconstructed. The research project produced new findings not only with regard to the victims, but especially also in relation to the beneficiaries of the robbing and looting activities. Through the systematic investigation of the transfer of property, researchers were able to shine a light on an institutionalized and informal system of gaining advantages prior to the public auctions of looted property. Through statistical means, it was also possible to demonstrate that most of the property stolen from racially persecuted citizens—minus the share appropriated by institutional beneficiaries—was acquired by “end users” who could have had no doubt about where the “non-Aryan owned” goods came from (1).

1) Thomas Ahbe: Das Versteigerungshaus Hans Klemm und die Ausplünderung der Leipziger Juden im “Dritten Reich”. Opfer – Täter – Nutznießer. In: Susanne Schötz (ed.): Leipzigs Wirtschaft in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Akteure, Handlungsspielräume, Wirkungen. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2012.

(c) Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig