Karl Heinz Esser (art historian)

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Karl Heinz Esser (born June 8, 1912 in Bonn ; † September 3, 1999 ) was a German art historian . From 1952 to 1977 he was director of the Mainz museums .

Life

Esser was born the son of a medical professor at Bonn University. He studied art history at the University of Marburg and joined the NSDAP ( membership number 4,614,981) with retroactive effect from May 1, 1937. In 1940 he was at the University of Bonn in Alfred rod with a thesis on Sanctuary to Vierzehnheiligen Dr. phil. PhD .

With the help of Stange, Esser joined the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) and was subsequently involved in the robbery of cultural assets , in particular libraries in the Baltic States , Ukraine and Belgium . In 1941 he dealt with the utilization of the library of Julius Gens, who fled to Russia . In 1943 he was appointed senior deployment leader and transferred to the “Brussels deployment site” by the special staff. In the OSS (USS Office of Strategic Services) Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index he is also mentioned as a member of the ERR in Paris.

Esser was also "Head of Operations" of a "Working Group Estonia " and one called Ingermanland , both as part of the "Main Working Group " (HAG) East Country of the ERR.

After the war, his fellow student from Bonn and friend Fritz Arens brought him to the museums in Mainz as an assistant. As early as 1952, as Arens' successor, he was appointed director of the Städtische Gemäldegalerie and the Altertumsmuseum, which he then, after negotiations with the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the city of Mainz, united in 1967 to form the "Mittelrheinisches Landesmuseum Mainz". Esser curated the exhibitions in the Mainz Museum, which he built and expanded after taking up his post due to the war damage and the expansion of the house. Among other things, he ran the extension on Schießgartenstrasse in the 1970s. Esser published numerous writings on the history of art and architecture, with his main interest being the building history of Mainz and its surroundings. He was significantly involved in the discussions about the “ Mainz marble head ”. Esser retired on June 30, 1977. He died in 1999 at the age of 87.

literature

  • Mainzer Zeitschrift 99, 2004, p. 178 (obituary).
  • Jens Hoppe: An art historian in the service of a Nazi organization. Dr. Karl Heinz Esser with the task force Reichsleiter Rosenberg for the occupied territories. In: Mainzer Zeitschrift 105, 2010, pp. 179–199.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl Heinz Esser: Presentation of the forms and effects of the pilgrimage church to Vierzehnheiligen: with an appendix about the "architecture space" as "experience dream." , J. Duckwitz printing company, Bonn 1940.
  2. ↑ Jens Hoppe: An art historian in the service of a Nazi organization. Dr. Karl Heinz Esser on the task force area manager Rosenberg for the occupied areas . In: Mainzer Zeitschrift 105, 2010, pp. 179–199.
  3. ^ OSS (USS Office of Strategic Services) Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index .
  4. ↑ Full text diss. Phil. University of Giessen 2013: The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg and his activities in the Ukraine 1941-1944, by Nazarii Gutsul, p. 314
  5. ^ Jens Hoppe: Jewish history and culture in museums. On the non-Jewish museology of the Jewish in Germany , (= Internationale Hochschulschriften Vol. 393), Waxmann Verlag, 2001, ISBN 978-3-8309-6178-9 , p. 113.
  6. ^ Karl Heinz Esser: The find situation of the Roman marble head. In: Mainzer Zeitschrift 58, 1963, 19-25; Karl Heinz Esser: On Frank Brommer's criticism of the "find situation of the Roman marble head" . In: Mainzer Zeitschrift 59, 1964, pp. 47–53; Head in the sand . In: Der Spiegel 24/1980 of June 6, 1980.
personal data
SURNAME Esser, Karl Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art historian
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Bonn
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 1999