Hanns Christian Löhr

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Hanns Christian Löhr (* 1961 in Marburg / Lahn ) is a German historian and journalist .

Life

Hanns Christian Löhr grew up in West Germany. After graduating from high school, he studied ancient, medieval and new history as well as philosophy at the University of Hamburg and Bonn . He finished his studies in 1988 with a Magister Artium . In 1992 he was at the University of Bonn in Klaus Hildebrand with a study on the establishment of the modern state of Albania and the outbreak of World War I to Dr. phil. PhD.

Journalistic activity

From 1992 to 1994 Löhr worked as a freelancer for the "Berliner Abendschau" of the former broadcaster Free Berlin . Between 1993 and 2004 he wrote for the features section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . He particularly described historical buildings and monuments in the former GDR , which were unknown to the West German readership. Work for the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the Märkische Oderzeitung and the Deutsche Tagespost can also be verified for the same period .

One of his important contributions from this period was the discovery of the walled-in statue of Prometheus by the Berlin sculptor Reinhold Begas (1831–1911), which he identified for the first time in 1993 in the back of the Academy of Arts building on Pariser Platz in Berlin. He was also the first to clearly attribute an estate in the Deutsche Fotothek Dresden to the Dresden photographer Hans Willy Schönbach (1887–1965). Between 1941 and 1944, Schönbach had photographed works of art that the special order Linz acquired for Adolf Hitler . In 2002 he presented the so-called Führer albums, in which Hitler had a special selection of acquisitions for his planned museum, presented to a wider public.

Scientific activity

The first book that Löhr published described the privatization of East German agriculture by the Treuhandanstalt Berlin. Subsequently, he concentrated his scientific research on the National Socialist art theft . In the course of this work he evaluated the photo files of the special order Linz and the "Führerbau" files, which he was the first to identify in the archives of the then Oberfinanzdirektion Berlin , which were then inaccessible to the public . Both files reflect a large part of the works of art acquired by Hitler. As a result, a monograph on Hitler's looted art organization was published in 2005. In this book he was the first to systematically point out the entanglement of the German and international art trade in the National Socialist art theft. In 2009 he published an analogous work on the Göring Collection. In 2018, the last work in this series was published, a study of the art theft carried out by Hitler's chief ideologist Alfred Rosenberg during the Second World War. Löhr published such a trilogy about the three important National Socialist art thieves.

Each of these three books contains a catalog of lost works of art that have been lost since 1945. He published photos of objects that were largely unknown to research until then. At the beginning of September 2009, the State Criminal Police Office in Bavaria, together with the Central Institute for Art History in Munich, seized the painting "The Sermon on the Mount" by Frans II Francken , which he had listed in his book "The Braune House of Art" as a loss from Hitler's collection. He supplemented his academic work on National Socialist cultural policy with a study of the architectural and cultural plans that Hitler wanted to realize in his former hometown of Linz on the Danube .

Scientific discussions

In the first edition of the book “Das brown Haus der Kunst”, published in 2005, Löhr argued that most of the works of art that Hitler acquired through the “special order in Linz” had been brought in through collaboration between the German and international art dealers. He supported this opinion with a statistical analysis of the collection of paintings for the special commission. His thesis provoked the contradiction of the Viennese art historian Birgit Schwarz. In a review in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, she accused him of not including extensive seizures from Jewish property in Vienna in the statistics. Schwarz fueled this dispute by attacking Löhr personally. However, in this review she made repeated assertions of fact. For example, she accused Löhr of not considering art from the depots in Kremsmünster and Hohenfurth. In fact, Löhr explicitly mentioned these depots. Today, the FAZ only shows a shortened version of the review on the Internet. When compared to the scientific review by Anneliese Schallmeier, Schwarz's criticism soon appeared to be one-sided and difficult to understand.

The journalist Stefan Koldehoff renewed the criticism put forward by Schwarz in a review for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. He also made such mistakes that six months later the editors of the paper felt compelled to publish a correction. Later, in her book On Orders of the Fuehrer , Schwarz took the view that all works of art stolen by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg had to be added to the holdings of the special order Linz due to the so-called Fuehrer's reservation .

In the second edition of the book, Löhr updated his statistical analysis and now included all of the works from confiscated Jewish property selected by the special order as well as the entire graphic collection in his calculations. He stated that the collection of the special order was now over 6,000 works. His number of works originating from Austrian confiscations corresponds to the objects that are presented on a corresponding Austrian website. On the basis of these extended calculations, he again came to the conclusion that most of the paintings were specially commissioned by art dealers in Linz. In the case of handicraft objects, graphic sheets, coins and weapons, however, there would have been a clear predominance of confiscations from Jewish property. He also proved that in January 1944, Hitler gave Rosenberg complete control over objects that he had collected from confiscations “until after the war”. Schwarz's criticism, according to which Löhr did not evaluate all seizures in his research on the special order , is therefore insubstantial. It is true, however, that Posse came into contact with confiscations to a far greater extent than is reflected in the collections of the special order and was responsible for the administration thereof.

Activity as editor

Together with the German Historical Museum Foundation (represented by the curator Monika Flacke) and the then Federal Office for Unresolved Property Issues (represented by staff member Angelika Enderlein), Löhr published the database on the “Special Order Linz” on the Internet in 2008, which lists all works of art that were between 1939 and 1945 were acquired for Hitler. The working group published an analog database for the Göring Collection in 2012.

watch TV

Löhr's years of research on German art theft during the Second World War and on National Socialist cultural policy make him an interview partner for the German media. He appeared on ARD , ZDF and ARTE .

Löhr lives and works as a provenance researcher in Berlin.

Publications

Monographs

  • The struggle for public property, the privatization of the former GDR state agriculture by the Treuhandanstalt 1990–1994 , Dunker and Humblot Berlin 2002, ISBN 978-3-428-10475-8 .
  • The founding of Albania, Wilhelm zu Wied and the Balkan diplomacy of the great powers 1912–1914 , Verlag Peter Lang Frankfurt / Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-60117-4 .
  • The Iron Collector, The Hermann Göring Collection, Art and Corruption in the “Third Reich” , Gebr. Mann Verlag Berlin 2009. ISBN 978-3-7861-2601-0 . (Spanish translation: El mercader de la muerte , Edhasa Barcelona 2012, ISBN 978-987-628-170-6 ).
  • Hitler's Linz, In the home district of the “Führer” , Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86153-736-6 .
  • The Brown House of Art, Hitler and the special order Linz, Visions, Crimes and Losses , 1st edition Akademie-Verlag Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3-05-004156-8 ; 2nd edition, Gebr. Mann-Verlag Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-7861-2736-9 . (Chinese translation: 第三 帝国 的 艺术 博物馆, SDX Joint Publishing Beijing 2009, ISBN 978-7-108-03311-6 ). (Reviewed by Anneliese Schallmeier in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege, 49th year 2005, issue 3/4, p. 381 ff.)
  • Art as a weapon, The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, Ideology and theft of cultural assets in the “Third Reich” , Gebr. Mann Verlag Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-7861-2806-9 . (Reviewed by Frank Rutger Hausmann in: Archive for the Study of Newer Languages ​​and Literatures, 256th volume, 171st year, issue 1/2019, p. 174 f. And by Theresa Sepp: Vom alten Kämter zum Kunsträuber, Die steep career of Alfred Rosenberg, Hanns Christian Löhr, art as a weapon. The task force Reichsleiter Rosenberg: Ideology and art theft in the "Third Reich", art chronicle, 73rd volume / issue 4 / April 2020, pp. 181–186.)

Articles (selection)

  • Intelligence and power - about the organizational talent Albert Speer as GBI for the capital of the Reich , in: Yearbook of the Landesarchiv Berlin, Berlin 1995, pp. 171–179.
  • New documents on the “Special Order Linz” , in: Kunstchronik, monthly journal for art history, museums and preservation of monuments, 65 year, issue 1, 2012, pp. 7–12.
  • The Great German Art Exhibitions 1937–1944 / 45 , in: Kunstchronik, monthly journal for art history, museum affairs and monument preservation, 65 year, issue 4, 2012, pp. 201–204.
  • Neufund, A new document on the special order Linz , in: Kunstchronik, monthly journal for art history, museum affairs and monument preservation, 69 year issue 1, 2016, pp. 2–6.
Databases
watch TV

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biographical information in: The Albanian Question , [Dissertation], Bonn 1992.
  2. ^ For example: Berliner Bunker , SFB Abendschau, September 4, 1992.
  3. ^ For example: Die Christenheit oder Preußen , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 174, July 29, 2000, p. 46.
  4. ↑ Die Luftwaffe gang, This is how the early Franz Josef Strauss accommodated his specialists , Süddeutsche Zeitung, No. 107, May 10, 2003, p. 15.
  5. ^ The secret camp of the State Security , Märkische Oderzeitung February 27, 1999.
  6. ↑ Secret return in Pomerania, This is how a German victim of Polish post-war confiscations was compensated , Die Tagespost No. 79, July 5, 2003.
  7. ↑ Prometheus protests , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 81, April 6, 1993, p. 33. And: Photo of the sculpture .
  8. ↑ Führer art from the negative reserve , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 175, July 31, 2002, p. 43. and the photographer's estate in the Deutsche Fotothek .
  9. ↑ What Hitler amused , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, no. 14, January 17, 2002 p.45.
  10. ^ The Struggle for National Property , Berlin 2000.
  11. ^ "The Brown House of Art", Hitler and the "Special Order Linz"; Visions, Crimes, Akademie Verlag Berlin 2005.
  12. ↑ The Iron Collector , Berlin 2009
  13. ^ Art as a weapon , Berlin 2018.
  14. ^ Sensational find in Munich, Das Bild der alten Dame , Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 7, 2009
  15. ^ Hitler's Linz , Berlin 2013
  16. ↑ Das brown Haus der Kunst , 1st edition, Berlin 2005, p. 123.
  17. ^ Battle of the Centaurs at Home , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 17, 2005, No. 24, p. 40.
  18. ↑ The brown house of art , 1st edition, Berlin 2005, p. 58.
  19. ^ Online version of the FAZ review by Schwarz. (accessed on September 27, 2019)
  20. ↑ Anneliese Schallmeier, review Das brown Haus der Kunst , in: Austrian Journal for Art and Monument Preservation, 49th year 2005, issue 3/4, p. 381 ff.
  21. ↑ Special order Linz, How was art collected for Hitler? , Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 18, 2006, No. 89, p. 14 and Kunstraub , Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 9, 1006, No. 232, p. 16. [only available in the print edition]
  22. ↑ Birgit Schwarz, On Orders of the Fuehrer, Hitler and the NS-Kunstraub , Darmstadt 2014, pp. 13 and 251.
  23. ↑ These can be found under the keyword KM Linz (= Kunstmuseum Linz) at https://www.zdk-online.org (accessed on September 27, 2019).
  24. ^ The brown house of art , 2nd edition, Berlin 2016, pp. 101 and 161.
  25. ↑ Das brown Haus der Kunst , 2nd edition, Berlin 2016, p. 53 and Art as a weapon , Berlin 2018, p. 108.
  26. ^ Art with reservation , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 31, 2008, No. 177, p. 33.
  27. ^ Nazi Looted Art: Göring's Treasure Now Online , Spiegel Online, June 20, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Löhr, Hanns Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Marburg / Lahn