Robert Scholz (art historian)

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Robert Scholz (born February 9, 1902 in Olomouc ; † January 15, 1981 in Fürstenfeldbruck ) was a German art historian, art journalist, art editor in the Völkischer Beobachter and head of the "visual arts" office in the DBFU office of the party ideologist Alfred Rosenberg . As head of the "Special Staff for Fine Art" in the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg , he was involved in art theft during the Second World War .

Apprenticeship and first years of employment

From 1920 Robert Scholz attended the Berlin art college. His teachers were Erich Wolfsfeld and Erich Hofer. From 1924 to 1927 he was a master student of the painter Arthur Kampf in the art history department of the Prussian Academy of Arts . He then worked as an art critic for the German daily newspaper and the Steglitzer Anzeiger . Even before 1933 he was a member of the Kampfbund für Deutsche Kultur (KfdK).

Activity at the time of National Socialism

Scholz did not join the NSDAP until January 1935 , he was given membership number 3296458, but he had already worked for the National Socialists before. From 1930, Scholz wrote as an art journalist for the Gau newspaper des Gaus Berlin, The attack , and from 1933 as an art editor for the Völkischer Beobachter . He also wrote for the Deutsche Kulturwacht , the newspaper of the Kampfbundes für Deutsche Kultur (KfdK), which, like his magazine, was discontinued in 1933.

On January 1, 1935, Scholz was appointed head of the art department at the NS-Kulturgemeinde sub-organization (the successor organization to the KFK) and at the same time became chief editor of the journal Die Völkische Kunst of the NS-Kulturgemeinde. At the same time, Scholz held a high office in the party organization DBFU ( the Führer’s commissioner for monitoring the entire intellectual and ideological training and education of the NSDAP ) under Alfred Rosenberg, also known as “Amt Rosenberg”. In 1940 he became head of the main office for fine arts in the department of art maintenance of the office of Rosenberg. In addition, Scholz was director of the Moritzburg Museum in Halle from 1938 to 1945 .

As one of his most famous tasks, Scholz took over from 1937 the editing ( main editorial ) of the magazine Kunst im Third Reich, which was produced at the request of Adolf Hitler (publisher of the leader's commissioner for the supervision of the entire intellectual and ideological training and education of the NSDAP Alfred Rosenberg); this appeared from 1939 under the title Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich .

Scholz was an opportunist who campaigned for expressionists before 1933 and turned against modern art at the time of National Socialism . This was made public to him by Dr. Walter Hansen, a Hamburg drawing teacher and journalist who fought against modern art and who, alongside the Göttingen painter Wolfgang Willrich, is the inventor of the exhibition Degenerate Art . Because in 1937, in preparation for the Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich, Hansen publicly displayed copies of newspaper articles, including those by Scholz, that had appeared before the " seizure of power ". Scholz's articles seemed to prove his sympathy for “degenerate art”, because in these articles he spoke out in favor of the Expressionists. That was an affront and an embarrassment for Scholz and Alfred Rosenberg. Hansen was then taken into custody by the Gestapo . Rosenberg also demanded in March 1938 that Hansen be expelled from the NSDAP; he had slandered Scholz as a cultural Bolsist. Scholz wrote texts in the mainstream of the blood-and-soil ideology of the time ; a sentence is quoted:

“Art is [...] a blood-bound self-representation of the race and its creative ingenuity [talent; Mental disposition]. "

- Robert Scholz 1937 in his publication Lebensfragen der bildenden Kunst

In 1939, at the instigation of Rosenberg and Goebbels, Scholz was to be awarded the title of 'Professor'. Hitler initially refused to do so on the grounds that Scholz was not an artist. Scholz finally received the title of professor in 1941, after having made further contributions to the implementation of Nazi politics.

From summer 1940 Scholz also worked in the ERR “West Office” in Paris ; he stayed mainly in Berlin. Formally, Scholz, Head of the Main Office for Fine Arts in the Rosenberg Office, held the post of head of the special staff for fine arts from autumn 1941. He was thus ex officio responsible for the art to be confiscated. At first, however, Scholz could not assert himself against Kurt von Behr , who was sponsored by Hermann Göring and who directed in Paris. Scholz was awarded the War Merit Cross II. Class by Hitler on May 1, 1942, by the Chief of Staff Gerhard Utikal . Under threat of resignation, Scholz was able to assert sole responsibility for the confiscated art at Rosenberg at the end of 1942. As part of the reorganization of the Fine Arts Special Staff, he appointed Lohse and Borchers as his deputies in Paris and stayed in Berlin. Therefore, from January 1943, Lohse and Borchers were in fact heads of the activities of the special staff “fine arts” in Paris.

"... most of the art possessions that were in Jewish hands in France ... [was] secured by the task force ..."

- Report by Robert Scholz from April 16, 1943

In February 1944, Scholz received notification that Hitler's art objects were to be relocated to the Austrian salt mine Altaussee . The transport of these works of art continued until March 1945. At the end of the Second World War , Scholz was responsible for the ERR depot at Neuschwanstein Castle . In April 1945, Scholz intervened at Rosenberg so that the cultural assets stored in Neuschwanstein Castle were not destroyed. Previously, there had been considerations to blow up the castle and its cultural assets in order not to let the works of art fall into the hands of the enemy. He also worked on the salvage of Hitler's art collection in the Altaussee salt mine. In this case too, Scholz and others succeeded in delaying the demolition of the mine and thus saving the works of art stored there.

After the war

Scholz was arrested in Buxheim and taken into American custody. In 1950 a case against the art thieves of the ERR was carried out before a military court in Paris. On the one hand, it was directed against Scholz, Gerhard Utikal - the general manager of the ERR - and Walter Hofer - Göring's main art buyer . The other accused were the French-based painter and art thief Artur Pfannstiel, Georg Ebert - the first director of ERR France until early 1941 - and Bruno Lohse, who had been in prison for five years . The case against Utikal was severed. The proceedings against Scholz and Hofer were conducted in contumaciam. They were each sentenced to ten years in prison. Scholz never went to prison. Georg Ebert, who lives in Paris, received one year in prison, Artur Pfannstiel three years. Lohse was acquitted, taking into account his pre-trial detention.

In the Soviet occupation zone , works by Scholz were included in the list of literature to be sorted out in 1946 as part of Nazi propaganda . He later worked as an author.

Works in the NS

  • The art-political situation. Report by the head of the visual arts department in the DBFU, by Robert Scholz, 1934 archive portal, Federal Archives (Germany) , correspondence with Rosenberg as chief editor of the VB
  • Collective exhibition: [Berlin] March 4 to April 4, 1935: Josef Thorak , sculptures, drawings ; Ferdinand Spiegel , mountain farmer ; Albert Leo Schlageter Memorial and House of the Hitler Youth . Preface by Robert Scholz, Nazi cultural community , Berlin 1935
  • Life questions in the fine arts . Eher-Verlag , Munich 1937
  • Animal art exhibition . May 5 to June 5, 1937. Preface Robert Scholz. Nazi cultural community, Berlin 1937
  • The Nordic idea in art . Lecture given on Oct. 21, 1938 on the occasion of the Nordic Week. Office of the Nordic Society , Hamburg 1938
  • Exhibition Fritz Klimsch . Catalog, Moritzburg Municipal Museum , Halle 1939
  • Fritz Klimsch : Collective exhibition June-July 1941 . Former Secession, Vienna. Ed. Commissioner of the Führer for the supervision of the entire intellectual and ideological education of the NSDAP, Berlin 1941
  • Of the highest value of German art. On the 50th birthday of Alfred Rosenberg, in: Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich , 7th vol. No. 1, Eher-Verlag, Munich 1943, p. 7f.

Works in the Federal Republic

  • From the eros of art . Türmer-Verlag , Munich 1970
  • Dürer's living work. Türmer, Munich 1971
  • Master of form and color. Biographies of European artists . Türmer, Munich 1973
  • Architecture and fine arts 1933–1945 . German publishing company DVG , Preussisch-Oldendorf 1977
  • Great German monuments . Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft DVG, Rosenheim 1979. With imprint: "For members of the book group of the German weekly newspaper DWZ "
  • People, nation, history: German historical art in the 19th century. Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft DVG, Rosenheim 1980. - "For members of the DWZ book group".

literature

  • Detailed Interrogation Report No. 3, Subject: Robert Scholz, August 15, 1945 in NARA Microfilm Publication [M] 1782, Washington, 1999
  • Consolidated Interrogation report No. 1 - August 15, 1945: Activity of the Einsatzstab Rosenberg in France
  • Reinhard Bollmus: The Rosenberg Office and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, DNB (2nd edition, Munich / Oldenbourg 2006, ISBN 3-486-54501-9 .)
  • Jonathan Petropoulos: The Faustian bargain. The art world in Nazi Germany . Oxford University Press, New York NY 2000, ISBN 0-19-512964-4 .
  • Andreas Hüneke: The Robert Scholz case - art reports under the swastika , writings on art criticism Volume 11, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-9805962-9-X .
  • Ernst Klee : The cultural lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 .
  • Hanns Christian Löhr: Art as a weapon - The task force Reichsleiter Rosenberg. Ideology and art theft in the “Third Reich” , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-7861-2806-9 .
  • Günther Haase: Art theft and art protection , Volume I, Books on Demand (self-published) Norderstedt 2008, ISBN 978-3-8334-8975-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Robert Scholz ( Memento of the original dated August 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on residence.aec.at @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / residence.aec.at
  2. ↑ a b c Ernst Klee: The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 490.
  3. ↑ Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Munich 2006, p. 363.
  4. ↑ Peter-Klaus Schuster (Ed.): National Socialism and "Degenerate Art". The art city of Munich in 1937 . Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1987. ISBN 3-7913-0843-2 . Page 13.
  5. ↑ Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Munich 2006, p. 106.
  6. ^ Helmut Heiber : files of the party chancellery of the NSDAP . Part I: Regesten, Volume 2, Oldenbourg, Munich 1983, p. 370.
  7. ↑ see also bundesarchiv.de
  8. ↑ Quoted in: Ernst Klee: Das Kulturlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 490.
  9. ^ Interrogation (questioning) Robert Scholz of May 29, 1946 by Lieutenant Wilbur F. Dobber, Document IMT 39, Rosenberg Doc 41.
  10. ↑ Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg for the occupied territories: Orders and notifications 1942, July 15, 1942 No. 4. From the digitized files of the Federal Archives NS 30/3 No. 1–6 1942, p. 52.
  11. ^ Hanns Christian Löhr: Art as a weapon. The task force Reichsleiter Rosenberg. , Berlin 2018, p. 81 u. P. 89.
  12. ↑ Lohse's statement in the interrogation of Bruno Lohse in OSS ALIU Detailed Interrogation Report No. 6, Bruno Lohse, August 1945 page 6 see under web links.
  13. ↑ Quoted in: Ernst Klee: Das Kulturlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 490.
  14. ↑ a b c Günther Haase: Art theft and art protection , Volume I, Norderstedt 2008, p. 146f.
  15. ^ Günther Haase: Art theft and art protection , Volume I, Norderstedt 2008, p. 402.
  16. ↑ see DIR No. 3 under literature.
  17. ^ Andreas Hüneke: The case of Robert Scholz - art reports under the swastika . Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-9805962-9-X , p.
  18. ^ German Administration for National Education in the Soviet Zone of Occupation, List of Literature to be Separated , Zentralverlag, Berlin 1946.
personal data
SURNAME Scholz, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art journalist, head of the main “visual arts” department in the Rosenberg office
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Olomouc
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1981
Place of death Fürstenfeldbruck