Sigfried Asche

Sigfried Asche (born June 26, 1906 in Dresden , † February 16, 1985 in Staufen im Breisgau ) was a German art historian and museum director.

Career

Siegfried Asche attended the Kreuzgymnasium in Dresden. He then studied art history , classical archeology , history and German studies, first in his native Dresden, and later in Vienna and Leipzig . In 1934 he received his doctorate in Leipzig. In 1933 he became head of the Zwickau art collections and in 1936 director of the Görlitz municipal art collections . Together with Cornelius Müller-Hofstede , he “played a decisive and active role in the exploitation of formerly Jewish art possessions”. "So we do not need us for our unreal funds to be sent," wrote Sigfried ashes in a letter of 29 April 1940 Cornelius Müller-Hofstede, after he along with the Breslau art historian Hubertus Lossow the collection Sachs revised and a wish list was compiled. First, Cornelius Müller-Hofstede was allowed to assert his claims, only then was Asche allowed to register his wishes. Asche succeeded in bringing a painting by Lovis Corinth , which came from the possession of Otto Ollendorff in Breslau, to Görlitz. But works from the Jewish Sachs and Smoschewer collections also came to Görlitz, including paintings by Adolf Dressler , Corinth, Fritz von Uhde , Wilhelm Trübner , Albert Weisgerber , Jules Dupré , Alexander Kanoldt , Konrad von Kardorff , Carlo Mense, and sculptures by Georg Kolbe . After Prague was occupied by the German Wehrmacht , Asche became the museum director there.

After the Second World War , Sigfried Asche was initially occupied with rebuilding the art collection in Görlitz and was involved in the renovation and reconstruction of destroyed churches in Upper Lusatia . After a brief activity for the National Museums in Berlin in 1951, Asche became director of the Wartburg Foundation in Eisenach in 1952 . In this capacity he had numerous construction works carried out on the castle. Among other things, the ballroom, which was in danger of collapsing, was to be secured and Moritz von Schwind's frescoes were to be saved. However, especially the demolition was discussed publicly Ritgentreppe that from the courtyard to the palace led. Asche had ordered him to restore the arcade front of the Wartburg to the same condition as it was in the 13th century. He also had the neo-Gothic windows with the painted panes from the 16th century torn out of the west wall of the Dürnitz, bricked up the wall and inserted smaller windows. A false ceiling was installed in the arming room, which was to be stabilized, so that the upper half could be added to the Wartburg Museum, while a sales room for souvenirs and tickets could be set up below. Hans-Joachim Rehm and Renate Sabrowsky commented on this measure as follows: "The former armory was finally wiped out, it was his second death."

In 1960 Asche left the GDR and went to the Federal Republic. In an eleven-page letter, Asche explained the reasons to the Prime Minister of the GDR Otto Grotewohl . For him, the Wartburg was a symbol of undivided Germany and should not be misused for ideological purposes. He also saw the Wartburg Foundation restricted in its freedom of action by the GDR leadership. However, there were also rumors that Asche had been confronted with his past in Prague by visiting two Czechs two days before he fled, and had therefore fled to the West. In West Germany, nationwide newspapers and magazines such as Zeit , Welt and Spiegel reported on the flight. Asche retired in 1970 and died in Staufen im Breisgau in 1985.

Publications (selection)

• Saxon baroque sculpture from 1630 to the time of the Persians. Leipzig 1934 (dissertation).
• Painting and graphics of Upper Lusatia. City Art collection, Görlitz 1940.
• Three families of sculptors on the Elbe. Eight masters of the 17th century and their works in Saxony, Bohemia and Brandenburg. Rohrer, Vienna / Wiesbaden 1961.
• The Wartburg. History and shape. Rembrandt-Verlag, Berlin 1962.
• Balthasar Permoser and the baroque sculpture of the Dresden Zwinger. Weidlich, Frankfurt am Main 1966.
• Balthasar Permoser. Life and work. Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-87157-070-2 .

literature

• Ramona Bräu : "Aryanization" in Breslau - The "de-Judaization" of a German city and its discovery in the Polish memory discourse. VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken 2008, ISBN 978-3-8364-5958-7 , p. 77 ff. (3.4.2: The large Jewish art collections in Silesia - art theft. )
• Annerose Klammt, Marius Winzeler: “Modern German art had to be brought to bear” - To acquire works of art from Jewish property for the art collections in Görlitz. In: Ulf Häder (Ed.): Contributions from public institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany to dealing with cultural goods from former Jewish property. Magdeburg 2001, pp. 119–141.
• Marius Winzeler: Jewish collectors and patrons in Wroclaw - from donation to "exploitation" of their art possessions. In: Collect. Pens. Promote. Jewish patrons in German society. red. Andrea Baresel fire. Peter Müller, Magdeburg 2006, pp. 131–150.
• Urania Culture and Education Association Gotha e. V. (Ed.): Eisenach personalities . A biographical lexicon. RhinoVerlag, Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-932081-45-5 , p. 15 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Sigfried Asche in the catalog of the German National Library
• Sigfried Asche. In: arch INFORM .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obituary
2. ^ Winzeler: Jewish collectors and patrons in Breslau ... p. 145.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Winzeler: Jewish collectors and patrons in Breslau. ... p. 147.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Suddenly gone. Castle chief Sigfried Asche ran away. ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 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: Thuringian border routes. Convoy path . 
5. ↑ Hans-Joachim Rehm and Renate Sabrowsky: The search for the weapons and armor of the Wartburg.
6. ^ Wartburg: Zehrer's ashes . In: Der Spiegel . No. 44 , 1960 ( online - 26 October 1960 ).
7. ↑ Hand washing was suspicious . In: The time . No. 46/1960 ( online ).