Eberhard Hanfstaengl

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Eberhard Viktor Eugen Hanfstaengl (born February 10, 1886 in Saargemünd , † January 10, 1973 in Munich ) was a German art historian .

Life

Eberhard Hanfstaengl was the son of an officer and a cousin of Ernst Hanfstaengl , a close political companion of Adolf Hitler .

From 1925 he was director of the Munich Municipal Gallery in the Lenbachhaus . After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists in November 1933, he was appointed as the successor of the dismissed Ludwig Justi and Alois Schardt , who was only briefly in office after him , initially provisionally and from January 1, 1934 officially appointed director of the National Gallery on Berlin's Museum Island and professor . In this capacity, after the death of the Reich President Hindenburg in August 1934, he signed the call of the cultural workers to a “ referendum ” on the unification of the Reich President and Reich Chancellery.

In 1937 he was relieved of his office due to a lack of cooperation and “too moderate” art-political views, in particular because he refused to remove works from the new department for the Nazi defamation, sale and destruction campaign “ Degenerate Art ”. Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels had carried out his dismissal . In his diary on July 24, 1937, he wrote: "Hemp stalks (sic!) Must go." Even the New York Times reported on his dismissal.

From 1945 to 1953 Hanfstaengl was General Director of the Bavarian State Painting Collections . In 1948, the American occupation authorities entrusted him with the return of art objects that Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring had confiscated for their art collections to their original owners, including many museums. In his office, however, he was also instrumental in ensuring that Nazi looted art from the collections could remain in the possession of families of high-ranking Nazi leaders. a. of the Goering family.

His daughter was the art historian Erika Hanfstaengl (1912–2003).

Honors

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Emmy Göring wants her picture back In: sz.de , June 24, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c d Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . S. Fischer, Frankfurt / M. 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 214.
  3. ^ The diaries of Joseph Goebbels. Ed. Elke Fröhlich . Part 1, Volume 4. Munich 2000, p. 231.
  4. ↑ Berlin Art Expert Ousted from Post; Dr. Eberhard Hanfstaengl of the Berlin National Gallery Victim of New Purge. In: New York Times, Aug 5, 1937, p. 21.
  5. ^ Bavarians Regain Treasure Custody; Art Objects Seized by Hitler and Goering Returned to Control of Germans. In: New York Times, September 1, 1948, p. 7.
  6. ^ Nazi looted art: the museum is building up. In: sz.de , June 27, 2016; Bavarian museums sold looted art to families of high-ranking Nazis sz.de , June 25, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Hanfstaengl, Eberhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hanfstaengl, Eberhard Viktor Eugen (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art historian
DATE OF BIRTH February 10, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Sarreguemines
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1973
Place of death Munich