Walter Andreas Hofer

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Walter Andreas Hofer (born February 10, 1893 in Berlin , † probably 1971 ) was a German art dealer.

Life

Hofer began his career as an art dealer in the early twenties and ran the gallery of his brother-in-law Kurt Walter Bachstitz in The Hague . He learned how to deal with old paintings and antiques, sold "first-rate works" by European masters, delivered tapestries, Italian bronzes, antiques, illuminated manuscripts, applied arts, "Mohammedan handicrafts".

In 1928 Hofer went to Berlin to study art. Here he met the art collector Gottlieb Reber from Lausanne, for whom he worked in Switzerland from 1930 to 1934. Reber made Hofer a contract with the art dealer Alfredo Barsanti in Rome, the collectors Marchese Gentile Farinola. Luigi Bellini in Florence and the Comtesse de la Béraudière in Paris.

Hofer established himself as a freelance art dealer in Berlin near Kurfürstendamm in 1934. In 1937 he married the restorer Berta Fritsch. From 1939 to 1944 his main customer was Hermann Göring . Hofer was paid on a commission basis, had access to foreign currency and was able to use Göring's special trains to transport the works of art. He traveled and reported about his "finds" by telephone or letter. Hans Wendland processed the planned acquisitions from France and Switzerland, Walter Waech from Holland and Belgium. Gottlieb Reber was responsible for the works from Italy.

On October 7, 1940, the Fischer Gallery in Lucerne sold a portrait of a Johanniter from Strasbourg painted by Hans Baldung in 1534 for 45,000 Swiss francs via Walter Andreas Hofer to Hermann Göring. From its holdings, a second portrait dated 1528 came to the Bavarian State Painting Collection. In 1940 the "NS art agent Walter Andreas Hofer" succeeded in getting a "Still Life with a Porcelain Pot" into his possession. The painting by Willem Kalf from 1653 originally belonged to the racially persecuted painter Josef Block . The picture came to the Alte Pinakothek in an exchange with Ernst Buchner .

Hofer was an important middleman between Göring and the art dealer Theodor Fischer in Lucerne. In his letterhead, Hofer had the title "The director of the Reichsmarschall's art collections." In his letter to Göring on July 18, 1941, he recommended that he swap French works from the 19th century that Fischer was familiar with for early German works. Hofer bought "Aryanized" collections and worked closely with the most important Nazi art theft organization, Reichsleiter Rosenberg's operational staff .

Kurt Walter Bachstitz received an exit visa to Switzerland through Hofer's intervention against the transfer of valuable works of art to Göring and was able to save himself from persecution in 1944. In January 1944 Hofer was drafted into the "Hermann Göring" division and lived in Carinhall , the hunting lodge of the "Reichsmarschall" in the Schorfheide . When he was captured in Berchtesgaden, where he had brought Göring's art collection, he presented himself to the international press. Photo correspondents, English and American newsreels reported.

Hofer was interrogated in Altaussee and was helpful with detailed knowledge of works of art, personalities and transactions. He was taken into custody by the US chief prosecutors in Nuremberg and interned in Hersbruck. In 1950 he testified against Theodor Fischer in Switzerland. In absentia he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by a French military tribunal, but was able to continue working as an art dealer in Munich until the 1970s.

Web links

literature

  • Günther Haase: Art theft and art protection , Vol. I: A documentation , Norderstedt 2008, p. 244
  • Lynn H. Nicholas: The Rape of Europa. The fate of European works of art in the Third Reich , Munich 1997, p. 452

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Recommendation regarding Bachstitz, Restitutions Committee, The Hague www.restitutiecommissie.nl Consideration No. 6th
  2. ^ Jonathan Petropoulos: The Faustian Bargain, The Art World in Nazi Germany , New York 2000.
personal data
SURNAME Hofer, Walter Andreas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art dealer
DATE OF BIRTH February 10, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: 1971