Adolf Hitler Took a Strong Stance Against Modern Art That

Dr. Hans Posse (6 February 1879 – 7 December 1942) was a German art historian, museum curator, and, for over 3 years, from June 1939 until his death, the special representative of Adolf Hitler appointed to aggrandize the collection of paintings and other art objects which Hitler intended for the so-called "Führermuseum" in Linz, Austria. The museum, which was never congenital, was to exist the core of a cultural center which was part of a planned general rebuilding of the city intended to have it surpass Vienna and rival Budapest.

Life and career [edit]

Posse was the son of Otto Adalbert Posse, an historian and archivist who was managing director of the Saxon Central Land Archive in Dresden. The younger Posse studied fine art history, archaeology and history in Marburg and Vienna, and received his doctorate in 1903 in Vienna under Franz Wickhoff with a thesis on the 17th century Roman painter Andrea Sacchi.

Posse's museum career began that same yr as a volunteer at the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, where he before long became the banana to and protégé of Wilhelm von Bode, the museum's director.^[1] Posse made a name for himself in the earth of art history by his handling of the museum's collections of German, Dutch and English paintings; a two-volume inventory catalog was published in 1911.

He spent several years in Florence equally an banana at the urban center's German Found of Art History, and in Rome every bit a researcher at the Bibliotheca Hertziana, which resulted in a work on the ceiling paintings of Pietro da Cortona. His afterwards publications would investigate Lucas Cranach and the German Impressionist Robert Sterl.^[i]

In 1910, at age 31, thank you in large role to the efforts of Bode, Posse was appointed to be the manager of the Dresden Picture Gallery, as well known every bit the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister ("Old Master'south Gallery") or simply the "Dresden Gallery".

Dresden Gallery [edit]

Posse reorganized the museum along the new ideas of Bode, and built upwards its holdings of German paintings, primarily from the 19th century, paying particular attention to the Dresden Romantics.

Called up for military service in Earth State of war I, he wrote to Bode from the front lines in 1914 "I would be very happy to participate in the partition of the Louvre."

After the war, from the summer of 1919, he began to add expressionist works to the museum.^[i] He was a significant supporter and friend of Oskar Kokoschka, the Austrian expressionist artist, poet and playwright, who was at the time a professor at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts and become a lodger in Posse's apartment. When Posse put together the German contribution to the Thirteen Venice Biennale in 1922, he featured Kokschka'south piece of work. As curator of the Dresden International Art Exhibition 1926 and both the 1922 and 1930 Venice Biennales, Posse advocated for avant-garde works to be considered as a legitimate part of the German fine art world. This stance provoked bitter opposition from High german nationalist artists, whose attacks he suffered from 1926 on.

In his speech on 12 June 1926 for the opening of the International Art Exhibition, Posse emphasized the international orientation of Dresden'southward gimmicky art life, which was necessary for the artists of Dresden to remain relevant, and avoid the stagnation of provincialism and possible extinction. He also pointed out the strategic importance of the Exhibition as a window to the international earth of art, especially later the isolation of the war years.

In 1931 Posse founded the New Masters Gallery on Brühl'south Terrace in Dresden, which was based on the Dresden Gallery's "Modern Section" collection of 19th and 20th century paintings, including Romantics, Expressionists and Impressionist works.

Relationship with the Nazis [edit]

Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP, commonly chosen the Nazi Party), had, following their leader's example, long taken a strong opinion against all mod fine art styles, which information technology called "degenerate fine art" or "Bolshevik art". After Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933 – the and then-called "seizure of ability" – the Nazi Party in Dresden launched a smear campaign against Posse, accusing him of displaying "degenerate fine art" in the museum, and claiming, inaccurately, that he was partly Jewish. At least one of his attackers, Walter Gasch, was motivated by a desire for Posse's chore.^[2] Posse was nevertheless able to proceed his position, at to the lowest degree temporarily, by distancing himself from the Modernist works he had previously championed. He argued that of the 310 works added to the collection nether his leadership, just 33 were dated after 1910, that many of those were gifts and on loan, and he had received them just in the spirit of helping local artists.^[3] At about the same time, Posse – whose housekeeper and future married woman had joined the Nazi Political party in 1931 – practical to become a party member, and received his interim membership card in December 1933. His opponents, even so, prevented him from becoming a total member; he remained a provisional member of the Party until June 1934, when his membership was finally rejected.^[3]

In Dec 1937, the Nazi campaign resulted in the confiscation and auction of 56 paintings from the New Masters Gallery, including works by Edvard Munch, Max Beckmann and Emil Nolde, and on 7 March 1938 Posse was summoned to answer for having hung these paintings. It was suggested that he retire, but he refused and took a leave of absence instead. Nevertheless, he was fired, only to be rehabilitated by Hitler, probably through the influence of art dealer Karl Haberstock, who often sold paintings to Hitler, every bit well as to Posse for the Dresden Gallery.^[2] Hitler visited Dresden on 18 June 1938, and questioned Posse nearly his dismissal. He asked for and examined the documents connected with the firing, and made the decision that Posse should get his position back. He and Martin Bormann were led through the museum by Posse.^[4]

Hitler'southward Special Envoy [edit]

A year after, on xx June 1939, Hitler summoned Posse to his summer abode, the Berghof, and told him that he wanted Posse to exist the caput of what would be perhaps the most massive art acquisition project in history, the gathering of paintings and other art works for Hitler's planned fine art museum in Linz, Austria, the city Hitler considered to be his hometown. What came to exist chosen the "Führermuseum" – which was never built – was to exist the core of a cultural eye which was role of a full general rebuilding of the city intended to have information technology surpass Vienna and rival Budapest. Posse's chore would be to supplement Hitler'south own previously purchased drove of mostly 19th century Germanic Romantic paintings. According to Posse's diary, Hitler told him that the museum would contain "merely the best of all periods from the prehistoric beginnings of fine art ... to the nineteenth century and contempo time," and the works were to be obtained both by buy and past confiscation. "You are ... to deal merely with me. I shall make the decisions," Posse was told.^[5]

The side by side solar day, Hitler prepare the Sonderauftrag Linz ("Special Commission: Linz") in Dresden and appointed Posse as his special envoy. A few days later, on 26 June, Hitler signed a letter intended to give Posse the authority he would need to do the job. He wrote:

I committee Dr. Hans Posse, Manager of Dresden Gallery, to build up the new art museum for Linz Donau. All Political party and State services are ordered to assistance Dr. Posse in fulfillment of his mission.^[6]

Although Hitler had favored German and Austrian paintings from the 19th century, Posse's focus was on early German, Dutch, French, and Italian paintings.^[7]

The Sonderauftrag not just collected art for the Führermuseum, but also for other museums in the German Reich, especially in the eastern territories. The artworks would have been distributed to these museums subsequently the war. The Sonderauftrag had approximately twenty specialists fastened to it: "curators of paintings, prints, coins, and armor, a librarian, an architect, an administrator, photographers, and restorers."^[viii] The sizable staff^[9] included Robert Oertel and Gottfried Reimer of the Dresden Gallery, Friedrich Wolffhardt, an SS officeholder, as curator of books and autographs; Leopold Rupprecht of the Kunsthistorisches Museum as curator for armour, and Fritz Dworschak, also of that museum, as curator for coins.^[10]

Collecting for Linz [edit]

Immediately post-obit the Nazi Anschluss with Austria " thousands of paintings were quickly seized following a general ban on Jewish fine art dealers and gallery owners. With many fleeing away, their holdings were ruthlessly liquidated and "Aryanized." On July ten, 1939, Posse visited the Austrian central depot of artworks confiscated from Jewish art collections, noting in his travel diary "Over 8000 pieces".^[11]

In the tardily summer and autumn of 1939, Posse traveled a number of times to Vienna to the Central Depot for confiscated fine art in the Neue Burg to pick out art pieces for the Linz museum,^[12] and in Oct he gave to Martin Bormann, for Hitler'due south blessing, the list of artworks confiscated from the Vienna Rothschilds which Posse had selected for the museum. These included works past Hans Holbein the Elder, van Dyck, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Tintoretto, Gerard ter Borch and Francesco Guardi, among others.^[13] These 182 pieces were included in Posse's July 1940 list of 324 paintings he had called for the museum'southward collection.^[eight]

Other works which Hans Posse purchased in Vienna for the Linz drove included Vermeer'due south The Artist in his Studio, Titian's The Toilet of Venus, Antonio Canova's Polyhymnia, and several works by Rembrandt. Among the many painting Haberstock sold to the collection were 2 Rembrandts, one of which, Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels is now thought to be from the Rembrandt workshop and non a piece of work of the master. Oddly, Hitler purchased these for an inflated price, despite the fact that seller was a partly Jewish woman and the paintings could take been confiscated. Posse besides purchased over 200 pieces which Jewish owners fleeing Nazi Frg had managed to get into Switzerland. On the other paw, Posse also acquired confiscated or looted art in Czechoslovakia Poland and the Netherlands.^[xiv] Posse committee Erhard Göpel to explore the Dutch art market.^{[15] [xvi]}

Posse too went to Poland to examine confiscated artworks there, selecting works by Leonardo, Raphael, and Rembrandt for the museum in Linz, although these pieces never actually left the control of the General Authorities, the rump of Poland left after Nazi Deutschland and the Soviet Union took the territory they wanted.^[eight]

On x June 1940, Posse wrote to Bormann:

The special delegate for the safeguarding of fine art and cultural properties has just returned from The netherlands. He notified me today that there exists at the moment a peculiarly favorable opportunity to purchase valuable works of fine art from Dutch dealers and private owners in German currency. Even though a big number of important works have doubtless been removed recently from Holland, I believe that the trade all the same contains many objects which are desirable for the Führer's collection, and which may be acquired without strange exchange.^[8]

As a effect of this, accounts of about 500,000 Reichsmarks were opened in Paris and Rome for Posse'due south personal utilize, and, around July 1940, he expanded the scope of the Sonderauftrag Linz into Belgium and the netherlands when he established an office in The Hague as Referent für Sonderfragen (Adviser on "Special Questions"). Posse was able to report to Bormann that as of March 1941 he had spent viii,522,348 Reichsmarks on artworks for the Führermuseum. He after bought most of the Mannheimer Drove in 1944, including Rembrandt'south Jewish Doctor – assisted by the threat of confiscation from the Nazi government of Arthur Seyss-Inquart – with the residue of the collection existence purchased in the same style in French republic later on.^[8] The collecting of the Sonderauftrag Linz includes many such cases of forced sale, using funds from sales of Hitler's volume Mein Kampf and stamps showing his portrait. Members of the Sonderauftrag Linz fabricated a considerable number of purchasing trips throughout Europe, acquiring a meaning number of artworks, and besides bundled purchases through art dealers.^{[12] [17] [eighteen] [xix]}

When Posse went to France, he took Nazi art looter Karl Haberstock with him, and the dealer, working through 82 local agents, purchased 62 pieces for the Linz collection, including works by Rembrandt, Brueghel, Watteau and Rubens.^[twenty]

In the "disciplinarian anarchy"^[21] and "administrative chaos"^[22] that was typical of the fashion the Third Reich operated, the Sonderauftrag Linz was not the only Nazi agency collecting art works. In France, as in many other countries in Europe, the office of Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (Special Purposes Reich Leader Rosenberg, ERR) was the primary bureau.^[viii] Hitler issued on 18 Nov 1940 a directive, a Führerbefehl similar to the ones he had issued for Poland and Austria, announcing his prerogative over all confiscated fine art in the occupied Western territories. Rosenberg thus became a formal procurement agent for the Führermuseum. This apparently brought about some internecine squabbling, as Posse had been given the say-so to human action on Hitler'due south behalf, and the German commanders of occupied countries were required to go along him regularly informed near their confiscations of artwork. Probably because of the interference of Hermann Göring – who was busy using the ERR to confiscate art for himself – Posse formally requested that the Reich Chancellery reiterate his ability to human activity for the Führer. The result was a "general high-level directive" confirming Hitler'southward primacy through Posse, and a direction to Posse to review the ERR'due south inventory in regard to the needs of the planned museum in Linz.^[8]

South.A. Gruppenführer Prince Philipp of Hessen was a connoisseur of the arts and architecture and acted equally Posse's principal agent in Italy, where he lived with his wife, a daughter of King Victor Emmanuel. A grandson of the German Emperor Frederick Iii, and a peachy-grandson of Queen Victoria, Philipp provided "a veneer of aristocratic elegance which facilitated important purchases from the Italian nobility."^[eight] Philipp assisted Posse in purchasing 90 paintings from Italy, and bought several more for the Linz collection on his own account.^[23] Another dealer used by Hans Posse was Hildebrand Gurlitt, through whom he made expensive purchases of tapestries, paintings and drawings.^[20]

In October 1939, Hitler and Benito Mussolini had made an agreement that any Germanic artworks in public museums in the S Tyrol – a traditionally German-speaking area which had been given to Italian republic afterwards the First World State of war in return for entering the state of war on the side of the Triple Entente – could exist removed and returned to Germany, but when Posse attempted to practise and so, with the assistance of Heinrich Himmler's Ahnenerbe, the Italians managed to keep putting things off, and no repatriations ever took identify.^[24]

Relationship with Hitler [edit]

Hitler was pleased with Posse'southward work – the curator became one of the few people whose artistic opinion Hitler respected^[25] – and in 1940 awarded him the honorific of "Professor",^[26] something the Führer did for many of his favorites in the arts, such as Leni Riefenstahl, the extra and moving-picture show managing director; architects Albert Speer and Hermann Giesler; sculptors Arno Breker and Josef Thorak; Wilhelm Furtwängler, conductor of the Berlin Combo; role player Emil Jannings; and photographer Heinrich Hoffmann; among others.^{[27] [28]}

Death [edit]

Posse died on 7 December 1942 of oral cancer in a clinic in Berlin. His funeral was a high state issue to which Hitler invited the directors of all art museums in the Reich; Propaganda Government minister Joseph Goebbels delivered the eulogy, although there was no mention made of the Linz Museum projection, since information technology was a land hugger-mugger Posse had gathered more than than 2500 art works for the Linz museum in the 3 years he was caput of the Sonderauftrag Linz.^{[8] [29]}

Posse's successor every bit Hitler's special envoy was the fine art historian and onetime manager of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Hermann Voss.^[xxx]

Nazi-looted art [edit]

Research is ongoing into the artworks looted from Jewish collectors during the Holocaust that Posse caused. A research database listing the fine art destined for Hitler's Linz museum was published in 2008 by the German Historical Museum.^[31] The German Lost Fine art Foundation also lists artworks acquired by Hans Posse.^[32]

See also [edit]

• Nazi plunder
• The Holocaust
• List of claims for restitution for Nazi-looted art

References [edit]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Spotts (2002), p.189
2. ^ ^{a b} Spotts (2002), pp.190-91
3. ^ ^{a b} Spotts (2002), p.190
4. ^ Spotts (2002), p.191
5. ^ Spotts (2002), p.187
6. ^ Edsel with Witter (2009), p.xv
7. ^ Enderlein, Angelika; Flacke, Monika and Löhr, Hanns Christian. "Database on the Sonderauftrag Linz (Special Commission: Linz): History of the Linz collection German Historical Museum
8. ^ ^{a b c d east f thousand h i} Plaut (1946)
9. ^ Fest (1975), p.530
10. ^ Spotts (2002), pp.192-93;212
11. ^ Welle (world wide web.dw.com), Deutsche. "Hans Posse: The man who curated Hitler'due south stolen art | DW | 14.07.2020". DW.COM . Retrieved 2021-05-21 . On July ten, 1939, Posse's journey continued to Vienna. At that place he visited the Austrian primal depot of artworks already confiscated from Jewish fine art collections. Immediately after the March 1938 "Anschluss" in which Germany annexed Austria, thousands of paintings were apace seized post-obit a general ban on Jewish art dealers and gallery owners. With many fleeing away, their holdings were ruthlessly liquidated and "Aryanized." "Over 8000 pieces," Hans Posse noted in his diary on July ten with his barely legible scrawl, referring to the Nazi stolen art.Nazi financial authorities alone auctioned off sixteen,558 works of art seized in Austria. Chief buyer Posse likewise profited from this. But he also bought from not-Jewish art holdings in the European art merchandise. {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-condition (link)
12. ^ ^{a b} "The Führer'southward prerogative and the planned Führer Museum in Linz" Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine Art Database of the National Fund of the Democracy of Republic of austria for Victims of National Socialism website
13. ^ Spotts (2002), p.198
14. ^ Spotts (2002), p.198-202
15. ^ Zuralski-Yeager, Isabella (2019-01-01). "Updating Records of Nazi Art Annexation from an Fine art Dealer'due south Archive: A Case Report from Gustav Cramer's Archive at the Getty". Getty Inquiry Journal. 11: 197–212. doi:10.1086/702754. ISSN 1944-8740. S2CID 194123986.
16. ^ "Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names Listing and Alphabetize". world wide web.lootedart.com . Retrieved 2021-05-21 . Goepel, Dr Erhard. Leipzig, Stieghtstrasse 76. Official Linz agent and buyer in Holland under Posse and Voss. Bought extensively in Holland and also travelled ofttimes in Belgium and France. Negotiated the forced auction of the Schloss Collection in Paris. Chief contacts: Vitale Bloch (Kingdom of the netherlands), Wuester, Wandl and Holzapfel (Paris). {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
17. ^ Schwarz (2004), p. 83-110.
18. ^ Lohr, Hanns (xx Nov 2000), No Looted Fine art in Hitler'due south Museum in Linz, archived from the original on 21 May 2008, retrieved 13 December 2008
19. ^ DW Staff (24 August 2008). "The Mystery of Hitler's Lost Art Collection". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved thirteen December 2008.
20. ^ ^{a b} Spotts (2002) p.206
21. ^ Fest (1975), p.419
22. ^ *Kershaw, Ian (2000) Hitler: 1936-45: Nemesis New York: Norton. p.569. ISBN 0-393-04994-ix
23. ^ Spotts (2002), p.210
24. ^ Spotts (2002), p.211
25. ^ Spotts (2002), p.155
26. ^ Spotts (2002), p.193
27. ^ Spotts (2002), p.79
28. ^ Joachimsthaler, Anton The Final Days of Hitler: The Legends, the Evidence, the Truth. (Helmut Bögler, trans) London: Brockhampton Press, 1999. p.304 ISBN 978-1-86019-902-8
29. ^ Spotts (2002), pp.191;193
30. ^ Spotts (2002), pp.191-92
31. ^ "| European History Primary Sources". main-sources.eui.european union . Retrieved 2021-05-21 . Datenbank "Sammlung des Sonderauftrages Linz" visit this resources "The German Historical Museum (DHM), in cooperation with the Federal Office for Cardinal Services and Unresolved Property Bug (BADV), places this prototype database on the Sonderauftrag Linz (Special Commission: Linz) on the Internet as completely as is currently possible. Information technology shows paintings, sculptures, furniture, porcelain, and tapestries that Adolf Hitler and his agents purchased or appropriated from confiscated property between the stop of the 1930s and 1945, primarily for a museum planned for Linz, but besides for other collections. The inventory covered here comprises 4747 works, some of which are groupings of multiple items.
32. ^ "Lost Art Cyberspace Database - Search". www.lostart.de . Retrieved 2021-05-21 .

Bibliography

• Edsel, Robert Grand. with Witter, Bret (2009) The Monuments Men. New York: Center Street, 2009. ISBN 978-1-59995-150-8
• Fest, Joachim C. (1975) [1973]. Hitler. Winston, Richard and Winston, Clara (trans.) New York: Vantage Press. ISBN 0-394-72023-vii
• Iselt, Kathrin (2009) "Sonderbeauftragter des Führers": Der Kunsthistoriker und Museumsmann Hermann Voss (1884–1969), Böhlau, Köln / Weimar / Wien 2010, ISBN 978-3-41220572-0 Studien zur Kunst, Band twenty, zugleich Dissertation an der Technische Universität Dresden.
• Joachimides, Alexis (2001) Die Museumsreformbewegung in Deutschland und die Entstehung des modernen Museums 1880–1940. Dresden: Verlag der Kunst, Dresden. ISBN 90-5705-171-0
• Plaut, James Due south. (1946) "Hitler's Capital" The Atlantic (October 1946)
• Schwarz, Birgit (2004) "Hitler's Museum" in Die Fotoalben Gemäldegalerie Linz. Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2004. ISBN 3-205-77054-four
• Schwarz, Birgit (2004a) Hitlers Sonderbeauftragter Hans Posse. in Lühr, Hans-Peter (ed.) Die Ausstellung "Entartete Kunst" und der Beginn der NS-Kulturbarbarei in Dresden. Dresden: Dresdner Geschichtsverein. ISBN iii-910055-70-ii, Due south. 77–85 (= Dresdner Hefte, Jahrgang 22, Heft 1 [Nr. 77]).
• Schwarz, Birgit (2014a) Auf Befehl des Führers. Hitler und der NS-Kunstraub. Stuttgart/Darmstadt: Theiss Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8062-2958-v
• Schwarz, Birgit (2014b) Rittmeister und Excellenz. Oskar Kokoschka und Hans Posse 1919 bis 1923 in Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, Ring 62, 2014, Due south. 231–254, ISBN 978-3-205-78875-1.

External links [edit]

• Literature by and about Hans Posse in the catalog of the High german National Library

cleaverdidellp.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Posse

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