Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle
The Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle (initially Zonal Fine Arts Repository ) was the central art warehouse in the British zone of occupation at Schloss Celle from 1945 to 1958 .
history
The Kunstgutlager was established by decree of the British military government as the Zonal Fine Arts Repository on August 28, 1945. This is where all art objects confiscated on the territory of the British occupation zone within the boundaries of the demarcation line of June 30, 1945 came. On November 29, 1949, the state of Lower Saxony took over responsibility for the Kunstgutlager, which was named Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle .
The Kunstgutlager held numerous exhibitions from May 1946 to 1958. It also had an art library that z. Partly consisted of holdings from the Berlin museums and the art library , which were returned to Berlin in 1953 and 1956. The remaining books were handed over to the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig in 1958 .
After the repatriation of most of the holdings to Berlin was completed in April 1958, the remainder of the administration and processing was transferred to the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover.
Stocks
Most of the items in question were the holdings of the Berlin museums that were relocated during the Second World War for security reasons , that had been stored in the Grasleben potash mine and the Schönebeck mine and that reached Celle via Goslar and Braunschweig between October 1945 and April 1947. The holdings of the Berlin museums in the American zone of occupation ended up in the Wiesbaden Central Collecting Point .
In addition to the pieces from the Berlin museums, there were other stocks, such as from
- of the University of Greifswald : The university stored various cultural assets (archives, books, rector's insignia, pictures, Croÿ carpet , Esther carpet) to Lübeck, from where they came to Celle in 1945. These items were returned to the university in 1952 and 1956, respectively, but the pictures were lost.
- the amber collection of the University of Königsberg , since 1958 in trust in the Geoscientific Museum of the University of Göttingen .
- the cathedral and the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum in Magdeburg. Returned in 1950 and 1954.
- the State Museum Schwerin : Dutch paintings, porcelain, antique vases, baroque ivory carvings, returned in 1961.
- of the Schwerin State Library . About 2000 volumes in 13 boxes.
There was also a department with “suspicious war goods”, which were illegally expropriated works of art that were restituted .
Employee
From August 28, 1945, the businessman and collector Ernst-Jürgen Otto was the director, but he was replaced in October 1947 after antique jewelry was stolen from the Berlin antique collection . Robert Schmidt was the director from February 13, 1948 until his death on October 6, 1952, followed by Lothar Pretzell from October 27, 1953 until its dissolution in 1958 , who was initially acting director from November 14, 1947, and from February 13, 1948 had been deputy director.
The employees here included a.
- Heinrich Brauer (1948–1956)
- Axel von Gagern (1956–1957)
- Gerhard Händler (1949–1951)
- Horst Hartmann (1951–1955)
- Helga von Heintze (1946–1948)
- Hans Jürgen Hundt (Restoration Department, 1949–1950)
- Gerd Koch (1950–1951)
- Walter Polzenhagen (restoration department, 1950–1955)
- Loni Pretzell (1949-1953)
- Reinhard Rohr (restoration department, 1956–1958)
- Wolfgang Scheffler (1952–1957)
- Friedrich Thöne (1946–1947)
- Dieter Veerkamp (1957–1958)
- Hermann Weyland (1947)
literature
- Sophia Barth: Protection of cultural assets in Celle Castle: From the "beehive" to the safe hoard. City of Celle, 2018, ISBN 978-3-925902-99-4 .
- Lothar Pretzell: The Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959.
- Cay Friemuth: The stolen art. The dramatic race to save cultural treasures after the Second World War (kidnapping, salvage and restitution of European cultural assets 1939–1948) . Westermann, Braunschweig 1989, ISBN 3-07-500060-4 , pp. 129-140.
- Frank Otten: Consolation in times of deepest need for life - the art goods warehouse in the Celle castle . In: Stadt Celle (ed.): 700 years of young Celle . Celle 1991, ISBN 3-925902-12-0 , pp. 180-184.
- Thomas Armbruster: Reimbursement of the Nazi booty. The search, recovery and restitution of cultural goods by the western allies after the Second World War . De Gruyter, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89949-542-3 , pp. 326-328.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Overview by Lothar Pretzell: The Celle Castle Art Collection 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959, pp. 67-86.
- ^ Lothar Pretzell: The Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959, pp. 28.59-60.
- ^ Lothar Pretzell: The Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959, pp. 57, 117-118; German Loss of Cultural Property Center .
- ^ Lothar Pretzell: The Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959, p. 58.
- ^ Lothar Pretzell: The Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959, p. 57.
- ^ Lothar Pretzell: The Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959, pp. 54-55. 118.
- ^ Lothar Pretzell: The Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959, p. 56. 118.
- ^ Lothar Pretzell: The Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959, pp. 58. 120-121.
- ↑ Everyone under suspicion . In: Der Spiegel No. 38, 1949; Cay Friemuth: The stolen art. The dramatic race to save cultural treasures after the Second World War (kidnapping, salvage and restitution of European cultural assets 1939–1948) . Westermann, Braunschweig 1989, ISBN 3-07-500060-4 , pp. 137-139; Adolf Greifenhagen : Gold jewelry from the Berlin Antiquarium. Losses in the Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle (1946–1947) . In: Archäologischer Anzeiger 1961, pp. 82–130.
- ↑ A complete list from Lothar Pretzell: Das Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959, pp. 109-112
- ↑ Dismissed and sentenced for theft. Lothar Pretzell: The Kunstgutlager Schloss Celle 1945 to 1958 . Celle 1959, pp. 65-66.
Coordinates: 52 ° 37 '26 " N , 10 ° 4' 39" E