Vugesta

The Vugesta (also VUGESTAP) for “Gestapo Jewish Removal Property Administration” was an institution in Vienna that operated from 1940 to 1945 and used the removal goods of around 5,000 Viennese Jews who had fled for the coffers of the Nazi Reich. It played an important role in the redistribution of stolen private property to "Volksgenossen" during the National Socialist era .

founding

On August 22, 1940, the Reich Minister for Justice issued a decree to the Reichsverkehrsgruppe Spedition und Lagerei (Reich Transport Group Forwarding and Warehousing) allowing the sale of deposits on the basis of the warehouse keeper's lien for household goods, furniture and removal goods that came from the property of emigrated Jews. Karl Ebner , head of the "Judenreferat" Vienna, reached an agreement with Karl Herber , head of the Reichsgruppe Spedition und Lagerei Ostmark , which provided that Herber should sell the Jewish property on the Gestapo's instructions Austrian warehouses remained. The freight forwarders and warehouses should be paid for the storage of the property from the proceeds. Any profits made should be transferred to the regional tax authorities in Vienna and Berlin. The Vienna Gestapo founded the VUGESTA for the auction of the belongings left behind, which began operations there on September 7, 1940. It was quite common to set up companies to acquire and sell looted goods, for example the goods trading company DEGRIGES had been founded in Greece .

Karl Herber managed this agency. The seat of the Vugesta was the office of the "Reichsverkehrsgruppe Spedition und Lagerei / Ostmark" (formerly the Central Association of Freight Forwarders for Austria , Vienna 1, Bauernmarkt 24). The Vugesta worked on a commission basis and employed 12 people. It was a collaboration between representatives of Austrian freight forwarders, warehouses and the Gestapo.

Area of responsibility

In the first few years, the VUGESTA concentrated on the theft of removal goods prepared for export from expelled Austrian Jews. Those forced to flee were obliged to hand over their packed removal goods (so-called lifts ) to forwarding agents before they left . After the beginning of the Second World War , however, these lifts were no longer forwarded, but remained with the freight forwarders or at intermediate stations.

Freight forwarders were also obliged to report moving lifts if their owners appeared racially suspicious. In these cases, the removal goods were officially confiscated in cooperation with the Gestapo. Although it was originally planned to have confiscated removal goods auctioned off exclusively by the Viennese auction house Dorotheum , other auction houses were later also active and from 1941 on the possibility of free sale was used. There were branches for this on the Vienna exhibition grounds and in the Sophiensaele.

Identification card for the Vugesta auction, May 1941

Only war invalids, homeless people due to air raids and other needy people were allowed to participate in the auctions. Members of the NSDAP , Gestapo or Wehrmacht received special permits , however, and authorities were able to purchase furniture at estimated prices. According to an undated printed leaflet, application forms for the purchase of furniture and everyday objects were issued by the local groups of the NSDAP, which also determined the reliability and worthiness of the applicant. The net monthly income also had to be noted in the application and confirmed by the operator.

By the end of 1943, most of the moving items in question had been resold. Subsequently, at the urging of the Gestapo, the Vugesta concentrated on the disposal of the home furnishings of deported people . To this end, the Krummbaumgasse furniture recycling center (headed by Bernhard Witke and Anton Grimm) worked closely with the Central Office for Jewish Emigration initiated by Adolf Eichmann . The appraisers were given addresses and keys to the apartments, which were then vacated by forced laborers .

Valuables and works of art

All goods with an estimated value of more than 1,000 Reichsmarks were auctioned at the Dorotheum, as well as works of art - provided they were not subject to the Fuehrer's reservation . Only when Hans Posse , the special representative for the Linz Führer Museum, was not interested in a work of art, was it sold or auctioned. Museums could assert a right of first refusal, after which the Vugesta appraisers had access, such as Bernhard Witke or Anton Grimm , who in turn ran antique dealers. Only when Nazi officers, art dealers and other favorites showed no interest were the goods sold to museums, dealers and private individuals via public auctions.

Business volume

From early autumn 1940 until the end of the war, the Vugesta “exploited” the belongings of around 5,000 to 6,000 and the furniture and furnishings of at least 10,000 refugee or deported Jewish families. In the course of this activity, the Vugesta turned over five million Reichsmarks through over-the-counter sales. In addition, the Vugesta generated a further ten million Reichsmarks with the sale of objects through the Dorotheum. The profit from these sales flowed into the coffers of the German Reich.

Web links

Commons : Vugesta - collection of images, videos and audio files

kunstrestitution.at: Vugesta
Democracyzentrum.org: Vugesta
yadvashem.org: Vugesta - Gestapo administrative office that sold Jewish property

Individual evidence

↑ Sabine Loitfellner, The role of the administrative office for Jewish removal goods of the Secret State Police (Vugesta) in Nazi art theft, in: Gabriele Anderl, Alexandra Caruso (ed.), Nazi art theft in Austria and the consequences, Innsbruck, 2005.
↑ Joseph Walk (ed.): The special right for the Jews in the Nazi state. 2nd edition Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-8252-1889-9 , p. 327: "Regulation on the treatment of hostile property: authorization of the sale of pledges / September 12, 1940 - RStDev [72/40 / DSt ./- RSt.] - Jews are to be regarded as enemies according to § 3 Paragraph 1 of the Ordinance on the Treatment of Hostile Property. "
↑ Andrea Löw (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933-1945 , Volume 3: German Reich and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, September 1939-September 1941 , Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486- 58524-7 , pp. 456/457 with note 2.
↑ Document VEJ 3/179 in: Andrea Löw (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933-1945 (collection of sources), Volume 3: German Reich and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, September 1939-September 1941 , Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-58524-7 , p. 456.

[1] Sabine Loitfellner, The role of the administrative office for Jewish removal goods of the Secret State Police (Vugesta) in Nazi art theft, in: Gabriele Anderl, Alexandra Caruso (ed.), Nazi art theft in Austria and the consequences, Innsbruck, 2005.

[2] Joseph Walk (ed.): The special right for the Jews in the Nazi state. 2nd edition Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-8252-1889-9 , p. 327: "Regulation on the treatment of hostile property: authorization of the sale of pledges / September 12, 1940 - RStDev [72/40 / DSt ./- RSt.] - Jews are to be regarded as enemies according to § 3 Paragraph 1 of the Ordinance on the Treatment of Hostile Property. "

[3] Andrea Löw (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933-1945 , Volume 3: German Reich and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, September 1939-September 1941 , Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486- 58524-7 , pp. 456/457 with note 2.

[4] Document VEJ 3/179 in: Andrea Löw (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933-1945 (collection of sources), Volume 3: German Reich and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, September 1939-September 1941 , Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-58524-7 , p. 456.