SS member

Christian, Viktor

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:38:16 +0000

Christian, Viktor Leonhard Weidinger Tue, 02/09/2021 - 18:30

Viktor Christian

30 March 1885 Vienna– 28 May 1963 Walchsee

In 1922 Viktor Christian obtained his habilitation in the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Vienna with a thesis "Semitic with special account of cuneiform writing". He was made an extraordinary professor in 1924 and six years later an ordinary professor of old Semitic philology and Near Eastern archaeology. He was a member of the "Bärenhöhle" (bears' cave), an antisemitic network of professors that sought to prevent the appointment and habilitation of Jewish and/or left-wing academics at the University of Vienna. He applied to join the NSDAP in 1933 but was not given a membership number. After being dismissed from the university for his National Socialist activity in 1934, he was reappointed in 1936 under the July agreement. In May 1938 he once again applied for membership of the NSDAP and was given the membership number 6127801. In November he also joined the SS (1943 SS‑Sturmbannführer).

After the annexation, he became head of the Department of Near Eastern Studies of the University of Vienna and member of the Academy of Sciences. He was temporary dean of the Philosophy Faculty before being confirmed in this position in April 1939. In 1938 he was also interim head of the Ethnology and Anthropology Institutes of the University of Vienna. To obtain "Jewish skeleton material" for anthropological research, in 1941 he directed the exhumation of Jewish graves at Währing cemetery. Thanks to his connections with National Socialist circles, he also became head of the SS-Ahnenerbe teaching and research centre for Near Eastern studies. From June 1943 until 1945 he was also head of the Vienna section of the National Socialist Altherrenbund (League of Alumni). He reached the highpoint of his career shortly before the end of the war, when in April 1945, after two years as pro‑rector, he became rector of the University of Vienna, albeit only for a few days. From mid-May 1945 to July 1947, he was interned in various camps and in June 1945 was dismissed by the Staatsamt für Volksaufklärung, für Unterricht und Erziehung (State Department for Public Enlightenment, Schools and Education) because of his membership of the NSDAP. The dismissal was transformed into retirement with a pension as a result of the 1950 amnesty legislation. Following a festschrift in honour of his seventieth birthday in 1955, he was awarded the Goldenes Doktordiplom (Golden Doctoral Diploma) of the University of Vienna in 1960.

During the Nazi era, Viktor Christian repeatedly endeavoured to obtain books expropriated from their Jewish owners for the Department of Near Eastern Studies. He was successful in the case of the SS‑Ahnenerbe but not so in other cases. He attempted to acquire the library of the Albanologist Norbert Jokl (1877–1942) for the University of Vienna but had to give way to the director general of the National Library Paul Heigl (1887–1945). Altogether, the Department of Near Eastern Studies acquired over 8,000 publications on permanent loan from the Ahnenerbe from the Jewish communities in Burgenland (Kittsee, St. Peter, Frauenkirchen and Lackenbach), from the private collections of Samuel Krauss (1866–1949) and Ludwig Feuchtwanger (1865–1947) and from the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) and the Völkerkundemuseum (Museum of Ethnology) in Vienna, which had been expropriated by the Nazis. After the war most of them were given to the IKG Wien (Vienna Jewish Community) and subsequently sent to Israel.

Keywords

6 January 2019

Publications about the person / institution

Adolf Grohmann, Viktor Christian †, in: Almanach der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften 114, 1964, 421–436.

Christina Köstner-Pemsel/Markus Stumpf, "Machen Sie es ordentlich, damit man nachher, wenn wir die Bücher ihren Besitzern zurückgeben, nicht sagt, es hätten Schweine in der Hand gehabt." Die Orientalistik – Ergebnisse der Provenienzforschung an der Universitätsbibliothek Wien, in: VÖB (= Mitteilungen der Vereinigung österreichischer Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare) 65 (2012) 1, 39–78, URL: fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/objects/o:107200/methods/bdef:Content/download (3.12.2020).

Katharina Kniefacz, Viktor Christian, Prof. Dr., in: 650 Plus - Geschichte der Universität Wien, URL: geschichte.univie.ac.at/de/personen/viktor-christian-prof-dr (3.12.2020).

Irene Maria Leitner, "Bis an die Grenzen des Möglichen": Der Dekan Viktor Christian und seine Handlungsspielräume an der Philosophischen Fakultät 1938–1943, in: Mitchell G. Ash/Wolfram Nieß/Ramon Pils (Hg.), Geisteswissenschaften im Nationalsozialismus. Das Beispiel der Universität Wien, Göttingen 2010, 49–77.

Kurt Schubert (Hg.), Festschrift für Prof. Dr. Viktor Christian (Vorderasiatische Studien), Wien 1956.

Gerd Simon, Tödlicher Bücherwahn. Der letzte Universitätsrektor im 3. Reich und der Tod seines Kollegen Norbert Jokl, s.l., s.a., URL: homepages.uni-tuebingen.de//gerd.simon/buecherwahn.pdf (3.12.2020).

Gerd Simon [u. a.], Chronologie Viktor Christian, Tübingen 2006, URL: homepages.uni-tuebingen.de/gerd.simon/ChrChristian.pdf (3.12.2020).

Markus Stumpf, Ergebnisse der Provenienzforschung an der Fachbereichsbibliothek Judaistik der Universität Wien, in: Bruno Bauer/Christina Köstner-Pemsel/Markus Stumpf (Hg.), NS-Provenienzforschung an österreichischen Bibliotheken. Anspruch und Wirklichkeit (= Schriften der Vereinigung Österreichischer Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare 10), Graz-Feldkirch 2011, 155–188, URL: fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/objects/o:290050/methods/bdef:Content/download (3.12.2020).

Josef Wastl, Viktor Christian und die Anthropologische Gesellschaft in Wien. In: Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien 93-94 (1964), 9–11.

Mechthild Yvon, Der jüdische Albanologe Nobert Jokl und seine Bibliothek. Spielball zwischen Begehrlichkeit und akademischer Solidarität?, in: Murray G. Hall/Christina Köstner/Margot Werner (Hg.), Geraubte Bücher. Die Österreichische Nationalbibliothek stellt sich ihrer NS-Vergangenheit, Wien 2004, 104–117.

Publications by the person / institution

Viktor Christian, Die Namen der assyrisch-babylonischen Keilschriftzeichen (= Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, 18,1), Leipzig 1913.
Viktor Christian, Akkader und Südaraber als ältere Semitenschichte, in: Anthropos 14/15.1919/20, [729]–739.
Viktor Christian, Altertumskunde des Zweistromlandes. Von der Vorzeit bis zum Ende der Achämenidenherrschaft. Leipzig 1940.
Viktor Christian, Die Stellung des Mehri innerhalb der semitischen Sprachen (= Sitzungsberichte / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, 222,3) Brünn/Wien [u.a.] 1944.
Viktor Christian, Untersuchungen zur Laut- und Formenlehre des Hebräischen (= Sitzungsberichte / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, 228,2), Wien 1953.
Viktor Christian, Beiträge zur sumerischen Grammatik (= Sitzungsberichte / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, 231,2), Wien 1957.
Viktor Christian, Die Herkunft der Sumerer (= Sitzungsberichte / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, 236,1), Graz-Wien [u.a.] 1961.

Archives

BArch Berlin, SS-Ahnenerbe, G0115.
BArch Berlin, Reichserziehungsministerium (REM), PA Viktor Christian.

OeStA/AdR, UWK, 02/K4, Der Kurator für die wissenschaftlichen Hochschulen in Wien, Zl. 1328.
OeStA/AdR, UWK, BMU, Personalakten, PA Viktor Christian.

UAW, Institut für Orientalistik.
UAW, PA Viktor Christian.

GND: 116509171

VIAF: 30289653

Wikidata: Q4501432

Eigenberger, Robert

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:39:23 +0000

Eigenberger, Robert Konstantin Ferihumer Wed, 11/18/2020 - 11:02

Robert Eigenberger

14 February 1890 Sedlitz, Bohemia – 14 April 1979 Vienna

Robert Eigenberger studied art history at the German University in Prague and wrote his doctoral thesis in 1913 on the sculptor Adam Krafft. The same year he became an intern and later an assistant at the k. k. Zentralkommission für Denkmalpflege (Imperial Royal Central Commission for Monument Conservation) in Vienna. During the First World War, he volunteered in May 1915 but was discharged six months later, having been seriously ill with typhoid fever, and was then employed collecting metal for the war effort. In 1917 he was appointed curator of the Paintings Gallery of the k. k. Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien (Imperial Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna). In his function from 1922 as director of the Paintings Gallery he reorganized the display and published a comprehensive inventory in 1927. He was also a freelance painter, winning the Österreichischer Staatspreis für Malerei (Austrian State Prize for Painting) in 1930 and was a member of the Vereinigung bildender Künstler Wiener Secession (Society of Fine Artists – Vienna Secession). In 1926 he was awarded the title of professor and from the summer semester 1927 was also an honorary lecturer in art history at the Viennese Akademie. From 1930 at the latest he was also an assessor and expert at the Dorotheum. In 1933 he was put in charge of restoration in the Paintings Gallery and gave a restoration course at the Akademie. He was subsequently appointed extraordinary professor and became head of the Department of Conservation and Technology in 1934. By his own admission, he carried out intelligence work for the illegal NSDAP from around 1934 but did not officially become a member until May 1938. At the same time, he changed his religion from Roman Catholic to "gottgläubig" ("religious"), became a supporting member of the SS and NS-Dozentenführer (NS senior lecturer) at the Viennese Akademie. In 1940 he was appointed ordinary professor and was given the Erinnerungsmedaille (Memorial Medal) on 13 March 1938 for his "National Socialist activity during its illegality". This was followed in 1942 by the Silbernes Treudienstehrenzeichen (Silver Loyalty Medal of Honour). Eigenberger was the Akademie's air raid officer responsible for salvaging works from the Paintings Gallery and deciding which items in the collection were to be stored for protection during the Second World War. From 1939, for example, he organized the transfer of over 600 objects to external depots inside and outside Vienna. Around 1,300 works, categorized by him as third-class, were left in the Academy building, around 520 of which were destroyed or disappeared when it was hit by a bomb on 12 March 1945. Moreover, 120 items stored in external depots were lost through looting and other causes.

Eigenberger was relieved of his position in June 1945 but was able to resume teaching at the Akademie in November 1946. According to a decision by the Federal President of 13 September 1947 he was classified as a lesser offender on account of his "exceptional knowledge", and in 1949 he was made extraordinary professor. That year the Federal Ministry of Education investigated Eigenberger, accusing him of having caused sustained damage during the restoration work carried out by him in 1938/1939. The expert opinions by Ludwig Baldass, Otto Benesch, Karl Garzarolli-Thurnlackh, Josef Hajsinek and Franz Sochor in early 1949 questioned Eigenberger's qualification as a restorer and head of the masterclass for restoration and technology. Eigenberger had no training as a restorer but was self-taught. As the committee established to examine the reproaches—four of the five members were professors at the Akademie—did not reach any satisfactory conclusions, the Ministry of Education called in an external expert in 1950/51, which led to protests by the teaching staff at the Akademie. The records do not show what consequences this had for Eigenberger. At the staff meeting of 1 June 1951 he was elected rector of the Akademie for the academic years 1951/52 and 1952/53, and he held this position again in 1954/55. He was pro-rector in 1953/54 and 1955–1957 and became an ordinary professor in 1955. After his retirement on 27 July 1961 he remained head of the masterclass for conservation and technology and also gave a course in this subject. From 1962 to 1965 he was chairman of the Akademie's Institut für sakrale Kunst (Institute for Sacral Art). He retired from active service on 30 September 1965. After receiving the Goldenes Lorbeer (Golden Laurel) of the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1960, he was awarded the Große Ehrenurkunde (Great Certificate of Honour) of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1978 and honorary membership of the Genossenschaft bildender Künstler Wiens (Künstlerhaus) in 1977.

Keywords

6 January 2019

Publications about the person / institution

Heribert Hutter (Hg.), Dr. Robert Eigenberger. Gedächtnisausstellung, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Wien 1979.

Gertrude Prammer (Hg.), Robert Eigenberger 1890–1979, Mistelbach 1980.

René Schober, "...da ihre Beschädigung keinen Verlust von unersetzlichen Kulturwerten darstellen würde". Bergungen und Kriegsverluste der Akademischen Gemäldegalerie im Zweiten Weltkrieg, in: Pia Schölnberger/Sabine Loitfellner (Hg.), Bergung von Kulturgut im Nationalsozialismus. Mythen – Hintergründe – Auswirkungen (= Schriftenreihe der Kommission für Provenienzforschung 6), Wien-Köln-Weimar 2016, 149–174, URL: doi.org/10.7767/9783205201564-009.

Publications by the person / institution

Robert Eigenberger, Die Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien, Textband, Wien-Leipzig 1927.
Robert Eigenberger, Neue Aufgaben der Denkmalpflege, in: Österreichische Kunst 9 (1938) 4, 11–14, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=oku&datum=1938&page=115 (3.12.2020).
Robert Eigenberger, Zum Wesen und zu den Aufgaben des Instituts für Konservierung und Technologie an der Wiener Akademie für bildende Künste, in: Österreichische Kunst 9 (1938) 10, 19–21, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=oku&datum=1938&page=317 (3.12.2020).

Archives

OeStA/AdR, UWK, BMU, Personalakten, Robert Eigenberger.
OeStA/AdR, ZNsZ, Gauakt 306.009, Robert Eigenberger.

UAAbKW, Geheimakten.
UAAbKW, PA Robert Eigenberger.

WStLA, M.Abt 119, A 42, NS-Registrierung, Robert Eigenberger.
WStLA, B7/1, NS-Registrierungslisten, 4. Bezirk, Blechturmgasse, Liste Nr. 8.

GND: 129167681

VIAF: 1083814

Wikidata: Q19997585

Exner, Walter

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:40:00 +0000

Exner, Walter Leonhard Weidinger Fri, 03/05/2021 - 16:21

Walter Exner

13 November 1911 Vienna – 3 November 2003 Bad Wildungen

Walter Exner was the son of the Asian art dealer and collector Anton Exner, with whom he compiled the Exner collection, of which the majority is held today by the MAK and a much smaller part by the Weltmuseum Wien. It is unknown how many objects from the collection were still privately owned by Walter Exner after 1945. He left school without a leaving certificate because he had to work as an unpaid assistant in his father's art dealership in Lerchenfelderstraße. His family's origins in the Sudetenland influenced Walter Exner's ideological beliefs. Even as a youth, he espoused the pan-German ideology. As a Protestant secondary school student he joined the Kreuzfahrer (crusader) Bible group. In 1930 he became a member of the NSDAP (membership number 300121) and the SA and in 1934 became responsible for managing the finances of SS-Standarte 81 and was promoted to Obertruppführer. Shortly before the July putsch in 1934, he travelled to Britain to avoid arrest, returning to Vienna in October of that year. In 1935 he travelled for the first time with his father to the Far East. On his return with the permission of Anton Exner he removed some objects from sale and started the Exner collection, which had grown by the time of the annexation of Austria to several thousand items. Anton Exner and Walter Exner subsequently acquired items specifically for their collection. In 1936/37 Walter Exner spent a year in Beijing and founded the Siebenberg-Verlag, in which several publications (co-)written by Walter Exner also appeared. Exner later moved the publishing headquarters to Austria and then to Germany. In 1937 Walter Exner organized his first exhibition in the Museum für Völkerkunde (Museum of Ethnology, now Weltmuseum Wien) with objects from Manchuria. He returned from his third and last buying trip to Asia shortly after the annexation.

Until he volunteered for the German Wehrmacht after the start of the Second World War, he admits to having been the main contact (V-Mann) for Asian art for the SD in Vienna, where his principal task was to prevent the export of valuable woodcuts. After the plan for an Asian art museum in Vienna came to nothing, Walter began in 1939 to build up the Asienarbeitskreis (Asia working group), which had its own publishing series, and supporting an alliance between Germany and Japan. The close but also extremely conflictual relationship with his overbearing authoritarian father had a marked influence on Walter's life. They fell out completely after Anton Exner, without consulting his son, transformed their loan to the Staatliches Kunstgewerbemuseum in Wien (State Arts and Crafts Museum in Vienna) in 1944 into a bequest in the case of his death and in 1946 agreed a further donation to the museum, once again without consulting his son.

After the end of the Nazi era, three charges were brought against Walter Exner at the Vienna Volksgericht under §§ 10 and 11 of the Prohibition Act, in which he was accused of being a member of the NSDAP and other Nazi organizations between 1933 and 1938. The cases were dropped. Walter Exner did not return permanently to Austria after the war but settled in Frankenau, his wife's birthplace, and later in Bad Wildungen. In a denazification process before the Spruchkammer in Frankenberg a. d. Eder (Hesse) he was classified as a minor offender thanks to the testimony of friends. He became a German citizen in 1960 without renouncing his Austrian citizenship. After his father's death he transferred the Asian art in his inheritance to West Germany and added new acquisitions to his collection. It included valuable Asian porcelain and sculptures and around 2,000 woodcuts. From 1956 to 1963 he directed the private Asien-Institut founded by him together with an Asian art museum in Frankenau, which he transferred in 1965 to Bad Wildungen and continued there until 1977. He was co-publisher of the series Geokultur: Beiträge zur Erforschung der geschichtlichen Dynamik. Later in his life he sold most of his Asian art collection. The MAK and Museum of Ethnology in Vienna acquired a large number of objects. The purchases and the donations in 1944 and 1946 were the object of systematic provenance research, complicated by the fact that, as with practically all of the items in the Exner collection, the original provenance remains unknown.

Keywords

6 January 2019

Publications about the person / institution

Gabriele Anderl, "Nicht einmal abschätzbarer Wert…". Anton und Walter Exner – Kunsthändler, Stifter, Nationalsozialisten – und ihre Sammlung asiatischer Kunst in Wien, in: Eva Blimlinger/Heinz Schödl (Hg.), Die Praxis des Sammelns. Personen und Institutionen im Fokus der Provenienzforschung (= Schriftenreihe der Kommission für Provenienzforschung 5), Wien-Köln-Weimar 2014, 339–406, URL: doi.org/10.7767/boehlau.9783205793564.339.

Publications by the person / institution

Walter Exner/Karl Gruber, Die westlichen Kaisergräber bei Peking, Peiping 1937.

Walter Exner/Thomas Zwieauer, 111 chinesische Zeichen des Kunstkenners, Peking 1938.

Walter Exner, Hiroshige: japanische Landschaftsbilder, Frankenau 1952.

Walter Exner, Die Sammlung Exner, in: Josef Kreiner (Hg.), Japan-Sammlungen in Museen Mitteleuropas – Geschichte, Aufbau und gegenwärtige Probleme, Bonn 1981, 225–234.

Walter Exner, Als Peking noch ummauert war. Erlebtes und Gehörtes, Waldeck (BRD) 1996.

Archives

MAK-Archiv, Hauptakten (Auswahl) Zl. 53-1954, 51-1960, 14-1982.

OeStA/AdR, UWK, BMU, Kunstangelegenheiten, Sammelmappe 51, 02, Sammlung Anton Exner.
OeStA/AdR, ZNsZ, Gauakt 48.627, Walter Exner.

Weltmuseum Wien, Archiv, Sammlermappen Anton und Walter Exner.

WStLA, Volksgericht, A1, Vg 9002/46, Vg 1689/49, Vg 361/51, Walter Exner.
WStLA, Gauakten, A1, Personalakten des Gaues Wien, 76.973, Walter Exner.

GND: 120540274

VIAF: 27904275

Wikidata: Q94938509

Fiala, Erich Franz

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:40:41 +0000

Fiala, Erich Franz

Leonhard Weidinger Sat, 02/27/2021 - 17:42

Erich Fiala

15 August 1910 Purkersdorf – 17 April 1978 Vienna

Erich Fiala was born in Purkersdorf, studied in Vienna and obtained a doctorate in political science in June 1935. From 1928 to 1938 he and his father owned shares in the Manner-Fabrik – his grandfather Johann Riedl was the brother-in-law of the company founder Josef Manner – and he became interested at an early age in the art market. Together with his future wife Isolde Ahlgrimm he acquired historical pianos and string instruments for restoration. In 1937 they launched a concert series Concerte für Kenner und Liebhaber (concerts for connoisseurs and music lovers). Isolde Ahlgrimm performed at the opening of the collection of historical instruments on 28 October 1939 in Palais Pallavicini. In her memoirs in the archive of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst (University of Music and Performing Arts) in Vienna, she wrote that she always performed in Palais Pallavicini when an important instrument had been made playable. She was the first person to play on the Erard grand piano belonging to Beethoven. In 1940 Fiala founded the Strudelhof-Galerie and applied in the summer of that year for admission to the Reichskammer der bildenden Künste (Reich Chamber of Fine Arts). He joined the NSDAP in 1932 and in 1938 applied for recognition, which was initially refused for lack of "adequate illegal activity" (cessation of payment of subscriptions to National Socialist works cells in 1937). It was not until 1 January 1941 that he was officially admitted to the local Strudlhofstiege section, where he was given the membership number 9290241. He was conscripted in 1938 but discharged provisionally from military service outside the Ostmark on the grounds of a medical report. According to his wife in an undated curriculum vitae, Fiala was court-martialled in 1943 and later arrested again in connection with the assassination attempt on 20 July 1944. In 1948 he stated that he had been sentenced to three years in prison for undermining military morale. He is documented as having been detained in 1944 in the military prison in Torgau an der Elbe, but the reason and length of imprisonment are not known. His application after the war for exemption from criminal prosecution and atonement for former NSDAP members was granted in accordance with § 27 of the Prohibition Act as amended in 1947. After 1945 the series Concerte für Kenner und Liebhaber was resumed in the Konzerthaus in Vienna. Fiala managed his wife's performances, but his own career as an art dealer must have stalled after 1945, and he worked again from time to time in the Manner factory. He divorced in 1956 and in 1959 married the medicine student Inge Weiskrab, who had previously been his secretary. He died in Vienna in 1978.

In his position as gallery director of Schwechater Brauerei AG during the Nazi era, he brought pictures for sale to the Dorotheum that were earmarked for the "Sonderauftrag Linz". They included a painting entitled Landscape with Ruin and Mule by Oswald Achenbach, which had been owned by the Jewish art dealer Richard Klein. Fiala also collected historical musical instruments and was involved with his wife in arranging historically informed performances on them. Between 1938 and 1975, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien Collection of Historic Musical Instruments acquired several objects from the Ahlgrimm-Fiala collection. As most of Fiala's acquisitions had taken place during the Nazi era, provenance researchers suspected that he might have used the desperate situation of Jewish owners to enlarge his collection. The suspicion could not be confirmed, however, as the surviving documents and correspondence have little information about former owners. A dossier was submitted to the Art Restitution Advisory Board in 2019 for information.

Keywords

29 July 2019

Publications about the person / institution

Joseph Hiestand, Alte Musikinstrumente aus dem Besitz von Dr. Fiala, Wien, in: Glareana. Nachrichten der Gesellschaft der Freunde alter Musikinstrumente, 22. Jg, Nr. 3/4, 31. Dezember 1973, 33–49.

N. N., Erich Franz Fiala, URL: Frits Lugt, Les Marques de Collections de Dessins & d’Estampes | Fondation Custodia: www.marquesdecollections.fr/detail.cfm/marque/6850/total/1 (3.12.2020).

Peter Watchorn, Isolde Ahlgrimm, Vienna and the early music revival, Aldershot 2007.

Regula Winkelman/Peter Watchorn, Die Cembalistin Isolde Ahlgrimm (1914–1995), Wien 2016.

Publications by the person / institution

Erich Fiala, Die ökonomische Zurechnung und das betriebliche Rechnungswesen. Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorates der Staatswissenschaften an der Universität zu Wien, Wien 1934.
Erich Fiala, Einleitende Notizen zu den von Philips aufgenommenen sämtlichen Werken für Clavicembalo von J. S. Bach gespielt von Isolde Ahlgrimm, Wien 1954.
Erich Fiala, Das Bildnis meines Großvaters, Wien 1958.

Erich Fiala/Isolde Ahlgrimm, Bach und die Rhetorik, Sonderdruck, Wien 1954.
Erich Fiala/Isolde Ahlgrimm, Zur Aufführungspraxis der Bach'schen Cembalowerke, Sonderdruck, Wien 1954.

Archives

Archiv der Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien, NL Isolde Ahlgrimm.

BArch Berlin, R 9361-II/232399 und R 9361-III/285446

BDA-Archiv, Ausfuhr, Zl. 673/1957, Zl.1973/1958, Zl. 28045/1972, Zl. 3663/1972, Erich Fiala.
BDA-Archiv, Restitutionsmaterialien, K. 35, PM Erich Fiala.

GNM Nürnberg, NL Rück, I, C-739, Korrespondenz Reimer – Rück.

OeStA/AdR, ZNsZ, Gauakt 295236, Erich Fiala.
OeStA/AdR, Deutsche Wehrmacht, Gebührniskarte, Erich Fiala.

KHM, Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente, Inventar, 5/SAM/1938/39, 15/SAM/1939/40, 31/SAM/1939/40, 38/SAM/1939/40, 15/SAM/1940/41, 33/SAM/1940/41, 46/SAM/1940/41, 22/SAM/1942/43, 28/SAM/1942/43, 35/SAM/1942/43, 28/SAM/1949, 18/SAM/1951, 19/SAM/1957, 9/SAM/1969, 69/SAM/1975, 40/SAM/2001, 26/KORR/1943.

WStLA, Historische Wiener Meldeunterlagen, Meldeauskunft Erich Fiala.
WStLA, Historische Wiener Meldeunterlagen, Prominentensammlung, Meldezettel Isolde Ahlgrimm, URL: wais.wien.gv.at//archive.xhtml?id=Akt+++++a82f88db-6967-44d3-b919-3167729a0613VERA#Akt_____a82f88db-6967-44d3-b919-3167729a0613VERA (3.12.2020).
WStLA, M.Abt. 212, A12/500, Totenbeschau, Erich Fiala, gest. 1978-04-18.

Finger, Sepp

Leonhard Weidinger — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 21:54:41 +0000

Finger, Sepp Leonhard Weidinger Wed, 05/05/2021 - 12:59

Sepp (Josef) Finger

21 March 1901 Vienna – 1962 probably Vienna

Josef (Sepp) Finger studied at the Handelsakademie and was employed from 1919 in a Vienna bank. In 1926 he emigrated to Turkey, living in Ankara and Constantinople (Istanbul), travelling around Asia Minor and working for the Deutsche Orientbank. From 1927 he worked at the Austrian legation in Turkey and the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Istanbul and he also organized a zoological study trip through Anatolia. He returned to Vienna at the end of 1934 and was employed by the Österreichisches Verkehrsbüro. After the annexation of Austria, he was employed initially at the Feinstahlwerke in Traisen, Lower Austria, and then as export manager in Vienna. Finger, who spoke Turkish and several European languages, was employed in 1939 as an interpreter in the Vienna Gestapo censorship department and also joined the SS Security Service (SD) that year. He attended the SS leadership school in Fulda in 1941 and was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer. In 1943/44 he published extensive travel reports, particularly about Turkey, in the Völkischer Beobachter. Until September 1944 he worked in the press censorship department of the Vienna Gestapo and later in Department (Amt) IV (Gestapo) of the Reich Security Main Office in Berlin. He moved to the anti-Communist Department (Amt) VI in February 1945. His last posting was in the special department for combating Austrian resistance. From February 1946 to July 1947 he was detained in the Marcus W. Orr US internment camp in Glasenbach near Salzburg. He said nothing there or during registration as a Nazi about his career in the Gestapo and ultimately lived under a false identity in the Saalfelden area. In 1947 he was transferred to the prison of the Landesgericht für Strafsachen (provincial court for criminal matters) in Vienna, and Volksgericht proceedings were instituted against him under §§ 8, 10 and 11 of the Prohibition Act (registration fraud, illegality and qualified illegality). Finger claimed that he had been sent to the Gestapo by the employment department and had been used there merely for "subordinate activities". In 1949 the public prosecutor's office in Vienna dropped the case.

On several occasions between 1935 and 1944, Finger had given or sold the Museum für Völkerkunde (Museum of Ethnology, now Weltmuseum Wien) objects from the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Persia and the Middle East. The objects were not identified as having been expropriated by the Nazis, and it is most likely that Finger acquired them during his long sojourns abroad. The Art Restitution Advisory Board took note of a report on the ethnographic items in the Weltmuseum from Finger on 30 November 2012 and a dossier on textiles in the MAK on 26 September 2014.

Keywords

21 November 2020

Publications about the person / institution

Gabriele Anderl, Provenienzforschung und Kunstrestitution im Weltmuseum Wien, in: Neues Museum. Die österreichische Museumszeitschrift (2013) 3, 15 Jahre Provenienzforschung, 37.

Publications by the person / institution

Sepp Finger, Anatolische Landschaften, Teil II in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 26.5.1944, S. 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440526&seite=3 (3.12.2020), Teil III in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 3.6.1944, S. 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440603&seite=3 (3.12.2020), Teil IV in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 10.6.1944, S. 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440610&seite=3 (3.12.2020), Teil V in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 17.6.1944, S. 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440617&seite=3 (3.12.2020), Teil VI in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 24.6.1944, S. 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440624&seite=3 (3.12.2020).
Sepp Finger, Bauernland Türkei. Wesensart und Lebensgewohnheiten der türkischen Landbevölkerung, in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 25.1.1944, 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440125&seite=3 (3.12.2020).
Sepp Finger, Bosnische Fahrtenbilder, Teil I in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 29.8.1944, 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440829&seite=3 (3.12.2020), Teil II in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 1.9.1944, 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440901&seite=3 (3.12.2020), Teil III in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 28.9.1944, 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440928&seite=3 (3.12.2020).
Sepp Finger, Im Zeichen des Goldenen Horns, in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 24.2.1944, 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440224&seite=3 (3.12.2020).
Sepp Finger, In der mittelalterlichen Türkei. Von zwei deutschen Reisenden gesehen, in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 15.4.1944, 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440415&seite=3 (3.12.2020).
Sepp Finger, Karagöz und Hadschiwad. Vom türkischen Schattenspiel zum Farbfilm, in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 14.3.1944, 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440314&seite=3 (3.12.2020).
Sepp Finger, Tosya. Bild einer anatolischen Kleinstadt, in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 7.12.1943, 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19431207&seite=3 (3.12.2020).
Sepp Finger, Türkischer Volkshumor. Von Hodschas und Derwischen, in: Völkischer Beobachter, Wiener Ausgabe, 2.5.1944, 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=vob&datum=19440502&seite=3 (3.12.2020).

Archives

OeStA/AdR, BKA, Grundzahl 208.526/4–1950.
OeStA/AdR, ZNsZ, Gauakt 156.737, Sepp Finger.

Weltmuseum Wien, Archiv, Inventarbücher.
Weltmuseum Wien, Archiv, Sammlerakt Josef (Sepp) Finger.

WStLA, Volksgericht, A1, Vg Vr 5204/47, Josef Finger.

Heigl, Paul

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:40:56 +0000

Heigl, Paul Konstantin Ferihumer Wed, 11/18/2020 - 13:24

Paul Heigl

29 April 1887 Marburg / Maribor, Styria (now Slovenia) – 8 April 1945 Vienna

also Peter Paul Heigl

Paul Heigl studied history and geography in Graz and Munich and was awarded his doctorate in 1910 from the University of Graz. From 1909 to 1911 he also trained at the Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung (Institute of Austrian Historical Research) in Vienna as an archivist and historical research assistant, becoming a librarian in 1912. Since his student days he had been a member of völkisch fraternities, such as the Studentenfreikorps-Wien in the Heimatschutz. No further details of his activities are available, but he himself stated in June 1938 in a personnel questionnaire attached to the Gau file that he had been active "from 1932 in the intelligence service for the Gau of Vienna and than in the Austrian NSDAP office in Munich". He joined the NSDAP and SS in 1933 and was arrested on 12 August 1934 for his part in the National Socialist July putsch, which resulted in his dismissal as a librarian. After the German Reich Ministry of Education, with the aid of its Austrian counterpart, obtained authorization for him to leave for the German Reich, Heigl worked as a librarian in Greifswald and Berlin. In the view of the Nazis, he was therefore seen as an ideal candidate after the annexation of Austria to the German Reich for the post of director of the National Library in Vienna. He took up this position in March 1938 and, in contrast to other Nazi appointments at this time, was notable for his expertise and management skill. Heigl himself was disappointed at the personnel situation in the National Library, where only one staff member had been a member of the (illegal) NSDAP, as he pointed out in one of his first meetings with the Reich Ministry of Education directly after his appointment in March 1938. The staff changes at the National Library began with Heigl's direct involvement on 16 March 1938 with the arrest of director Josef Bick. In subsequent months a number of librarians were dismissed or forced to retire. Four staff members were retired for "racial" reasons and eight retired or dismissed with immediate effect on political grounds. Thus, twelve of the eighty-nine staff members were victims of this "cleansing". In order to participate in the expropriation of books belonging to persecuted individuals or institutions, Heigl made more active use of his connections to the Nazi administration, the Gestapo and the Security Service (SD) than other library directors at the time. He was able in this way to considerably enlarge the National Library's holdings, acquiring around 500,000 expropriated items between 1938 and 1945. He was supported in this by his collection heads, who were well informed of the collectors and their assets. Not all of the expropriated books were signed over to the National Library. Heigl generously allocated duplicates above all to other libraries and from 1941 supported the development of the "Führer library" in the planned Kunstmuseum (Art Museum) in Linz. At the same time, he endeavoured to keep the contents of liquidated libraries in Austria and prevent their transport to the "Altreich". He also frequently and openly criticized the pulping of books by the Vienna Gestapo and SD head office. In January 1944, Friedrich Rainer, the Gauleiter of Carinthia, commissioned Heigl to distribute books, above all from seized Jewish removal goods stored in Trieste. Thereupon, thousands of books were collected in the synagogue in Trieste and transported from there initially to Carinthia. Heigl was still involved in this commission in March 1945. A month later, he and his wife committed suicide. It has not been possible to determine whether Heigl acquired expropriated items for himself.

After the war in 1945, the National Library in Vienna was found to have many other illegally acquired items apart from the books from Trieste. After the restitution to twelve collectors, including Viktor Ephrussi, Moritz Kuffner and Heinrich Schnitzler, in the late 1940s, however, thousands of volumes expropriated by the Nazis remained in the library. The National Library began systematic provenance research in 2003 and since then 46,866 objects acquired under Heigl have been restituted to their rightful owners or legal successors.

Keywords

Christina Köstner-Pemsel

12 December 2019

Publications about the person / institution

Hermann Degener, Wer ist's?, Berlin-Leipzig 1935.

Murray G. Hall/Christina Köstner, … allerlei für die Nationalbibliothek zu ergattern …. Eine österreichische Institution in der NS-Zeit, Wien 2006.

Hans-Gerd Happel, Das wissenschaftliche Bibliothekswesen im Nationalsozialismus. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Universitätsbibliotheken, München 1989.

Ernst Klee (Hg.), Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich, Frankfurt am Main 2005.

Christina Köstner, Paul Heigl (1887–1945), in: Karel Hruza, Österreichische Historiker 1900–1945, Wien 2008, 569–595.

Christina Köstner, Heigl, (Peter) Paul; Ps. Friedrich Hergeth (1887–1945), Bibliothekar, in: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon ab 1815, URL: doi.org/10.1553/0x00281d0e.

Ernst Trenkler, Die Nationalbibliothek (1923–1967), in: Josef Stummvoll/Rudolf Fiedler (Hg.), Die Geschichte der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek 2, Wien 1973.

Publications by the person / institution

Paul Heigl, Die diplomatischen Beziehungen zwischen Mailand und Deutschland während der Regierungszeit Friedrichs III. (1440–1493), Dissertation Universität Graz 1910.
Paul Heigl, Aus der Werkstatt der Freimaurer und Juden im Österreich der Nachkriegszeit, Graz 1927.
Paul Heigl, Studentenschaft und Heimwehr in Österreich, in: Der Student 10 (15.4.1929) 6, 4–6.

Archives

Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Teilnachlass Paul Heigl.

ÖNB-Archiv, Direktions-, Sammlungs- und Personalakten, 1938–1945.

OeStA/AdR, ZNsZ, Gauakt Zl. 679, Paul Heigl.

StLA, Archiv des Akademischen Corps Joannea, K. 1, H. 2: Mitgliedsbücher 1861–1910, Nr. 344: Paul Heigl.

WStLA, Gauakten, A1, Personalakten des Gaues Wien, Paul Heigl.

GND: 116650958

VIAF: 769688

Wikidata: Q2060057

Jelinek, Egon

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:41:14 +0000

Jelinek, Egon

Leonhard Weidinger Fri, 03/05/2021 - 22:08

Egon Jelinek

4 May 1904 Zurich – date and place of death unknown

Egon Jelinek, son of the photographer Paul Jelinek (1878–1940), was active in the Austrian NSDAP ("Hitler movement", Brigittenau) from 1921. In 1928 he joined the Vienna Heimatschutz and in 1929 the Styrian Heimatschutz around Walter Pfrimer. He was a member of the NSDAP and SA from 1932 and a supporting member of the SS from 1934. In April 1938, Paul Jelinek, also an NSDAP member, gave his photo studio at Wallensteinstraße 20 in the 20th district to his son, who had completed training as a photographer at the Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt in Vienna and from 1936 was a member of the Österreichischer Photographen Verein, which was increasingly infiltrated by the NSDAP. He was already working as an informant for the NSDAP intelligence service before 1938. In April 1938 he was appointed temporary head of the ostmärkische Fotografeninnung (Ostmark Photographers' Guild). After the guild's incorporation into the Reichsinnungsverband, he was appointed regional guild master for photography in the Ostmark and then Gaufachschaftsverwalter of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (departmental administrator of the German Labour Front) and temporary head and then regional head of the film department of the NSDAP Kreisleitung II regional propaganda office. He was also chairman of the Arisierungskommission der Wiener Photographeninnung (Aryanization Commission of the Photographers' Guild), temporary administrator of Wilhelm Pollak's studio on Kriemhildplatz in the 15th district, und assessor for the Aryanization of the business belonging to Nachim Chefez and Arpad Gyarmati. Together with Gustav Nohynek he looted the photographer Wilhelm Pollak and his father Hugo Pollak and denounced both to the Gestapo, which led to the death of Hugo Pollak in Gestapo detention. After he had been enlisted in March 1940 into the Intelligence Service of the German Wehrmacht, he wrote antisemitic articles for the Allgemeine Photographische Zeitung on photography in the territories occupied by the Wehrmacht.

After being a prisoner of war for a short time, Jelinek moved in May 1945 from Vienna to St. Johann in Tyrol and in February 1946 opened a photography gallery at Schwimmbadweg 520. His studio in Vienna, which had been destroyed in an air raid, and the premises Aryanized by him were put into public administration and liquidated in 1945. Criminal proceedings opened in June 1947 on suspicion of registration fraud and high treason pursuant to §§ 8 and 10 of the Prohibition Act ended in October 1948 with an acquittal, because his Gau file could not be found and he was described in the judgment as a "Heimatschützer" (homeland protector) on account of his membership in the Heimwehr organizations. In 1949 he was tried by the Vienna Volksgericht for wilful injury to Hugo and Wilhelm Pollak through denunciation (§ 7 War Criminals Act). In March 1950 the court sentenced him to eight months' imprisonment and forfeiture of his assets. In March 1957 his sentence was deemed to have been served in accordance with § 15 of the NS Amnesty Act after he had already been pardoned in 1955 and exempted from the restrictions for "sühnepflichtige Personen" (persons liable for atonement).

From the project Durch das NS-Regime aus Österreich vertriebene und ermordete Fotografinnen und Fotografen und der Verbleib ihrer fotografischen Sammlungen (Subsidized by the National Fund of the Republic of Austria. Conducted by Walter Mentzel).

Keywords

Aryanization

Photography

Temporary administration

12 July 2020

Publications about the person / institution

Luis Kuhn/N. N., Österreichischer Photographen Verein, in: Allgemeine Photographische Zeitung (1936) 3, 44, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1936&page=48 (3.12.2020).

N. N., Österreichischer Photographen Verein (Neue Mitglieder), in: Allgemeine Photographische Zeitung (1936) 10, 155, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1936&page=163 (3.12.2020).

N. N., Wien. Gewerbeanmeldungen, in: Allgemeine Photographische Zeitung (1937) 3, 44, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1937&page=60 (3.12.2020).

N. N., Gewerbliche Mitteilungen. Wien, in: Allgemeine Photographische Zeitung (1938) 3, 60, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1938&page=62 (3.12.2020).

N. N., Kurzberichte, in: Allgemeine photographische Zeitung (1938) 4, 65, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1938&page=67 (3.12.2020).

N. N., Kurzberichte, in: Allgemeine Photographische Zeitung (1938) 5, 81, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1938&page=83 (3.12.2020).

N. N., Kurzberichte, in: Allgemeine photographische Zeitung (1938) 11, 177, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1938&page=183 (3.12.2020).

N. N., Innungsnachrichten, in: Allgemeine photographische Zeitung (1939) 7, 106, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1939&page=108 (3.12.2020).

N. N., Innungsnachrichten, Heeresdienstleistung des Obermeisters Jelinek, in: Allgemeine Photographische Zeitung (1940) 3, 34, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1940&page=38 (3.12.2020).

Publications by the person / institution

Egon Jelinek, Einheit in der Wirtschafts- und Sozialpolitik, in: Allgemeine photographische Zeitung (1938) 10, 163–164, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1938&page=165 (3.12.2020).
Egon Jelinek, Rückblick und Vorschau, in: Allgemeine photographische Zeitung (1939) 2, 18–19, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1939&page=20 (3.12.2020).
Egon Jelinek, Aufgeben des Photographenhandwerks im Osten, in: Allgemeine photographische Zeitung (1942) 7, 50–51, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1942&page=78 (3.12.2020).
Egon Jelinek, Brief aus Holland. So sah ich ein holländisches Atelier und seinen Meister, in: Allgemeine photographische Zeitung (1943) 1, 3, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=phz&datum=1943&page=5 (3.12.2020).
Egon Jelinek, Das Photographenhandwerk als Betreuer der Bindung: Front und Heimat, in: Photographische Chronik und Allgemeine Photographische Zeitung (1943) 11/12, 1, URL: (3.12.2020).

Archives

OeStA/AdR, BKA, Zl. 210.199/2-2N/57, Jelinek Egon.
OeStA/AdR, E-uReang, VVSt, Gewerbe, Zl. 1306, Willi Pollak.
OeStA/AdR, E-uReang, VVSt, Gewerbe, Zl. 4060, Nachim Chefez.
OeStA/AdR, PK, Zl. 15.601/1955, Ausnahmeansuchen gemäß § 27 VG 1947 des Egon Jellinek.
OeStA/AdR, PK, Zl. 1.633/1957 Antrag auf Nachsicht der Sühnefolgen nach dem Verbotsgesetz 1947 für Egon Jelinek. Ebenso: GZl. 15.601/1955.

WStLA, M.Abt. 119, A41, VEAV 547, 3. Bez., Willi Pollak.
WStLA, Volksgericht, A1, Vg 1h Vr 6587/47, Alfred Wenzl, Egon Jelinek, Gustav Nohynek.
WStLA, Volksgericht, A1, Vg 12 Vr 3617/47, Egon Jelinek.

Kitschelt, Lothar Rudolf Moriz

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:40:46 +0000

Kitschelt, Lothar Rudolf Moriz Leonhard Weidinger Wed, 02/10/2021 - 08:43

Lothar Kitschelt

20 May 1910 Vienna – 30 October 1944 Hablainville, France (according to presumption of death by the Landesgericht für Zivilrechtssachen in Vienna of 19 September 1947)

Lothar Kitschelt, son of the factory manager August Eduard Kitschelt and Olga Anna Maria Kitschelt, née Freiin von Hartlich-Wallthor, started studying law but switched in the winter semester 1932/33 to art history, archaeology and philosophy at the universities of Innsbruck and Vienna. He joined the NSDAP in 1933 (membership number 6239371) and assumed various political functions, even after the party was banned in Austria. He was detained at Vienna city centre police station for forty-eight hours in February 1934 and for forty-two days in June/July 1935 for damaging Dollfuß-Schuschnigg and Heimwehr posters. After receiving a warning from the dean of the Philosophy Faculty at the University of Vienna, he was banned in the winter semester 1935/36 from studying at Austrian universities. He continued studying in Munich, where he joined the Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (National Socialist German Students' League) in 1935 and the SS in 1936. His doctoral thesis in art history in 1938 was entitled "The early Christian basilica as a symbol of the New Jerusalem". In March of that year he returned to Vienna. After a short period of unpaid employment as a research assistant in the Collection of Sculpture, Arts and Crafts in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) and in the archive of the Institute of Art History in the University of Vienna, the temporary director of the KHM Fritz Dworschak appointed him in July 1938 to manage the museum's Ecclesiastical and Secular Treasury. In late August/early September 1938 he was part of a nine-man delegation to accompany the transport of the Imperial Regalia from the Treasury in Vienna city centre to Nuremberg, where the Party rallies were held. In December 1939 he worked for several days as a senior official and registrar at the secret depot in Steinbach. On 23 December 1939 he married Helene Buchwieser, the former head of the KHM building department, whom he had met during alterations to the Treasury. In early 1940 he was conscripted into the Wehrmacht. In spite of Dworschak's claim that he was required in the Treasury, amongst other things to continue to look after objects from the dissolved Teutonic Order, the office of the Reichsstatthalter refused to support the application for exemption. His request to be granted leave in order to work was also turned down. He was posted to France, southeast of Nancy, and reported missing on 1 November 1944. On 6 June 1945 he was dismissed from the KHM on account of his illegal activities in the NSDAP under § 14 of the Prohibition Act. On 19 September 1947, the Vienna Landesgericht für Zivilrechtssachen (provincial court for civil law matters) declared him presumed dead with retroactive effect to 30 October 1944. Despite this, a search missing person announcement appeared in the Welt am Abend on 11 September 1948.

Keywords

6 August 2019

Publications about the person / institution

N. N., Kitschelt, Lothar (1910-1944), Kunsthistoriker, in: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon ab 1815 3, Lfg. 14, 1964, 358, URL: doi.org/10.1553/0x002828c8.

N. N., Kannst Du Auskunft geben? über die Vermißten, in: Welt am Abend, 11.9.1948, 2, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=waa&datum=19480911&seite=2 (3.12.2020).

Publications by the person / institution

Lothar Kitschelt, Die frühchristliche Basilika als Darstellung des himmlischen Jerusalem, Dissertation Universität München 1938.

Archives

KHM-Archiv, III 824, PA Lothar Kitschelt; Direktionsakten: 242/KL/1938, 9-7 /KL/1941.

OeStA/AdR, UWK, BMU, Personalakten, K. 08/104, Lothar Kitschelt.

UAW, Nationale (Inskriptionsformulare) der Philosophischen Fakultät, Wintersemester 1933/34 bis Sommersemester 1935; Disziplinarakt, Senat S 185.739.

Wien Innere Stadt, Lutherische Stadtkirche, Taufbuch 1910, S. 59, Nr. 100, URL: data.matricula-online.eu/de/oesterreich/wien-evang-dioezese-AB/wien-innere-stadt-lutherische-stadtkirche/TFB67/?pg=62 (3.12.2020).

WStLA, Historische Wiener Meldeunterlagen, Meldeauskunft Lothar Kitschelt.
WStLA, Gauakten, A1, Personalakten des Gaues Wien, Lothar Kitschelt.

GND: 1013620712

VIAF: 173663942

Wikidata: Q60815627