Dagmar Westberg

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Dagmar Westberg (born December 8, 1914 in Hamburg ; † January 21, 2017 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German patroness . She was a great niece of the Hamburg entrepreneur and patron Oscar Troplowitz , who bought Beiersdorf in 1882 , and is one of the “most important supporters” of the Städel Museum in Frankfurt.

Master of von Grooteschen Adoration: Adoration of the Magi, triptych (1517), since 2008 in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Life

Dagmar Westberg came from a Baltic- Hamburg entrepreneurial family. Her father Gustav Alexander Westberg, a lawyer, immigrated to Germany from Riga in 1901 . She had five siblings, including the founder Ebba Simon . Dagmar Westberg and her twin brother were the youngest children in the family. She studied at a private college in southern England in the 1930s, took a language exam and taught German in Maidenhead . When the German-British relationship came to a head on the eve of World War II , the home office sent her back to Germany. Dagmar Westberg initially worked in Berlin as an assistant at the Embassy of the United States and from 1941 after the USA entered the war for the Swiss Embassy in Berlin. Her mother Gertrud Westberg geb. Pulvermacher (1881–1971) was to be deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in February 1945 on the last transport ; however, a doctor confirmed that she was unable to travel, so she survived.

Jusepe de Ribera: St. Jakob (1615), in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt since 2014

Dagmar Westberg lived in Frankfurt am Main from 1945, where she worked for the American Consulate General until 1965 . On the occasion of her 94th birthday, she presented the Städel in Frankfurt with the medieval altarpiece by the master of the von Grootian adoration . Frankfurt's Lord Mayor Petra Roth took this gift as an opportunity to host a reception for Dagmar Westberg in the Römer on the occasion of her 95th birthday. On her 100th birthday in 2014, she donated the painting Saint James the Elder by Jusepe de Ribera from around 1615 to the Städel .

Patronage

  • In 2000 she established the “Dagmar-Westberg-Stiftung”, which promotes public art collections and supports people in need through no fault of their own. In addition, the foundation supports, for example, the “fem-Mädchenhaus” in Frankfurt and an outdoor living group of the Frank children's home supported by the Arbeits- und Erziehungshilfe association.
  • In 2008, for an unspecified seven-figure sum, she donated a triptych with the Adoration of the Three Magi to the Städel in Frankfurt , the work of the master of the von Grooteschen Adoration , who received his emergency name from this work . The altarpiece is said to be worth several million euros.
  • As one of the main sponsors, she promoted the “German Summer Work Program” at Princeton University , which aims to arouse and maintain interest in the German language and culture in the USA.
  • In 2010, the Dagmar Westberg Prize, endowed with 1000 euros, was awarded for the first time, with which outstanding final theses in the humanities related to Great Britain at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main are awarded. For the prize as well as further promotion of the academic study of British literature, culture and history at the University of Frankfurt, she had the Dagmar Westberg University Fund of 100,000 euros set up by the German-British Society.
  • The Dagmar Westberg Endowed Professorship has been awarded to internationally recognized representatives of the humanities and cultural sciences since 2012. Guest professors of the Dagmar Westberg lecture series have been Peter Strohschneider (2012), Martha Nussbaum (2013), Lothar von Falkenhausen (2014) and Christoph Markschies (2015).
  • In 2014 she donated the Dagmar Westberg Prize for Internal Medicine. The price is aimed at young researchers under 40 years of age. In addition to prize money of 1,500 euros, the winners receive a mentoring program that accompanies their further career development over a period of 5 years.

Awards and honors

  • 2009: Georg August Zinn Medal
  • The central collection room of the old masters department in the Städel has been named after her as Dagmar-Westberg-Saal since 2008.
  • Dagmar Westberg was an honorary member of the German-British Society .

literature

  • Claus-Jürgen Göpfert: The present from the old lady . In: Frankfurter Rundschau of December 9, 2010, pp. D2 – D3
  • Dagmar-Westberg-Stiftung (Ed.): “Getting older - we don't even start with that”: Festschrift for Dagmar Westberg. Views of an unusual woman , Frankfurt am Main 2013.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Death of the family in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 27, 2017
  2. ↑ Claus-Jürgen Göpfert: The present of the old lady . In: Frankfurter Rundschau of December 9, 2010, p. D2
  3. ↑ This lady knows what she wants . In: Frankfurter Neue Presse from December 8, 2010
  4. ↑ Four times life - Jewish fate in Blankenese
  5. ↑ Mayor Roth congratulates Dagmar Westberg
  6. ↑ Städel Museum receives a gift worth millions , welt.de , December 8, 2014.
  7. ^ Dagmar Westberg Foundation , frankfurt.de.
  8. ↑ fem-Mädchenhaus ( Memento from October 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ 2005 annual report of the Arbeits- und Erziehungshilfe association
  10. ↑ Michael Hierholzer: The old Dutchman and the young-at-heart patron , faz.net , December 9, 2008.
  11. ↑ Patroness donates valuable altarpiece ( memento from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Sächsische Zeitung online from December 9, 2008.
  12. ↑ Humanities: Ripe for the island , fr-online.de, October 28, 2010, accessed on January 24, 2017.
  13. ↑ A question of understanding , fr-online.de, October 28, 2010, accessed on January 24, 2017.
  14. ↑ Private donation supports UK research in the humanities ( memento of July 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), communication from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main of February 18, 2010.
  15. ^ Dagmar Westberg Endowed Professorship , website of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main
  16. ↑ Dagmar Westberg Prize ( Memento from January 23, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ↑ Press release of the Hessian State Chancellery of October 30, 2009 ( Memento of February 6, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  18. ^ German-British Society ( Memento of March 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), August 2005, p. 4 (PDF file; 162 kB).
personal data
SURNAME Westberg, Dagmar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German patroness
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH January 21, 2017
Place of death Frankfurt am Main