Anneliese Schallmeiner

Altaussee, Salzbergwerk

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:38:54 +0000

Altaussee, Salzbergwerk Konstantin Ferihumer Wed, 11/18/2020 - 12:19

Salzbergwerk Altaussee

Saltmine Altaussee

other names: Altaussee, Steinberg

During the Nazi era, Salzbergwerk (salt mine) Altaussee in Upper Danube Gau was one of the most important depots, along with Schloss Thürnthal, managed by the Institute for Monument Preservation in Vienna. In the first half of 1943 the Steinberg tunnel, an already disused part of the salt mine, was considered by Franz Juraschek, Gau curator in the Upper Danube, and Herbert Seiberl, head of the Institute for Monument Preservation, as a possible salvage depot – on account of the atmosphere in the mine determined in several expert opinions, including one by the chemist Maximilian Eder (60–75% humidity, 6–8°C temperature), the accessibility and the remote location. After an agreement had been reached in early August 1943 between the Institute for Monument Preservation and Alpenländische Salinen regarding the temporary storage of artworks, the first transport left Vienna on 25 August 1943 and arrived at the mine the following day. It contained cultural objects from Wiener Neustadt, e. g. objects from the municipal museum and the Lorenz Luchsperger's statues of the apostles from the cathedral. The Monument Preservation employees Eva Kraft, Linde Schrader, Alice Hoyos and the restorer Emmerich Bergthold were responsible for the photo documentation and inventory of the stored works, while Seiberl was responsible for the salvaging. Transports left Vienna thereafter every month. In October 1943 secured artworks belonging to Jewish collections administered by the monument authority arrived for the first time. Salvaged items were evacuated to Altaussee from the Gau Upper Danube, for example from the library of the Historical Research Institute of Reichsgau Upper Danube (manuscripts and codices from the abbeys Kremsmünster, St Florian, Wilhering and Hohenfurt closed by the Nazis), as well as the Altdorfer panels from St Florian Abbey, the Mount of Olives group from the Dominican church in Steyr and numerous artworks from Lambach. From February 1944 privately owned items were transported there from Vienna and Linz. From January to September 1944 artworks for the planned Kunstmuseum Linz were also moved from Kremsmünster to the salt mine, supervised specially by a local restorer Karl Sieber. In the first half of that year, cultural items from the expropriated collection of the banker Jean Baron Cassel van Door, which had arrived from Paris, undistributed items from the seized Viennese collections of Louis and Alphonse Rothschild and salvaged items from looting by the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce in western Europe were moved from Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee castles in Bavaria. Added to this were stained glass windows from Maria am Gestade church in Vienna, the Franzensburg in the Laxenburg complex, and the photo and map collection and parts of the library of the Institute for Monument Preservation. In May 1944 transports also commenced from the "Führerbau" in Munich, which continued until April 1945. In addition, in September 1944 seventy pictures from the Schack-Galerie in Munich and the Ghent Altarpiece, previously stored in Neuschwanstein, were moved to the mine. The last major transport to arrive was the collection belonging to the German-Dutch banker Fritz Mannheimer. With the impending defeat of Nazi Germany, August Eigruber, Upper Danube Gauleiter, had four crates with bombs brought to the mine on 10 and 15 April 1945 with a view to destroying the artworks stored there. On Seiberl's initiative, many items were moved, in some cases within the mine, and in others cases to Bad Aussee and Lauffen. On 3 and 4 May, mineworkers removed the crates from the mine, referring to an order by Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the Reich Security Head Office. The following day, several entrances to the mine were blown up and not cleared until mid-May 1945. On 8 May 1945, the 3rd US Armored Division arrived in Altaussee, and the mine was handed over to the US Army. From then on, most of the artworks were transferred in numerous transports to the Central Collecting Point in Munich. Items whose Austrian provenance had been ascertained were left initially in the mine, mostly items belonging to the state or church, along with objects whose provenance needed to be verified by the Austrians. A few items, including the Rothschild family coin collection, remained in the mine until 1963. At the end of March 1946 the United States Forces in Austria handed over the art depot to the Republic of Austria, and its administration was taken over by the Bundesministerium für Vermögenssicherung und Wirtschaftplanung (Federal Ministry for Securing Property and Economic Planning). From 1966 until well into the 1970s, the Steinberg tunnel of Altaussee saltmine was enlarged in accordance with the Hague Convention as a central salvage site for Vienna's major collections and was placed under special protection until September 2000.

Keywords

"Sonderauftrag Linz"

Salvaging

Depot

Anneliese Schallmeiner

6 January 2019

Publications about the person / institution

Theodor Brückler, Gefährdung und Rettung der Kunstschätze im Altausseer Salzberg: Versuch einer kritischen Rekonstruktion, in: Eva Frodl-Kraft, Gefährdetes Erbe. Österreichs Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 1918–1945 im Prisma der Zeitgeschichte, Wien-Köln-Weimar 1997, 363–379.

Theodor Brückler, Kunstwerke zwischen Kunstraub und Kunstbergung 1938–1945, in: Theodor Brückler (Hg.), Kunstraub, Kunstbergung und Restitution in Österreich 1938 bis heute (= Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 19), Wien-Köln-Weimar 1999, 13–30.

Robert M. Edsel/Bret Witter, Monuments Men. Die Jagd nach Hitlers Raubkunst, Salzburg 2009.

Eva Frodl-Kraft, Gefährdetes Erbe. Österreichs Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 1918–1945 im Prisma der Zeitgeschichte, Wien-Köln-Weimar 1997.

Katharina Hammer, Glanz im Dunkel. Die Bergung von Kunstschätzen im Salzkammergut am Ende des 2. Weltkrieges, Altaussee 1996.

Veronika Hofer (Hg.), Berg der Schätze. Die dramatische Rettung europäischer Kunst im Altauseer Salzbergwerk, o. O. 2006.

Franz Juraschek, Die Klosterdenkmale Oberösterreichs. Ihr Schicksal in und nach dem Kriege, in: Jahrbuch des Oberösterreichischen Musealvereins 92 (1947), 84–99.

Konrad Kramar, Mission Michelangelo. Wie die Bergleute von Altaussee Hitlers Raubkunst vor der Vernichtung retteten, St. Pölten-Salzburg-Wien 2013.

Emmerich Pöchmüller, Weltkunstschätze in Gefahr, Salzburg 1948.

Anneliese Schallmeiner, Die modernen Nibelungen "salzen" ihre Schätze ein. Altaussee als Bergungsort des Instituts für Denkmalpflege, in: Pia Schölnberger/Sabine Loitfellner (Hg.), Bergung von Kulturgut im Nationalsozialismus. Mythen – Hintergründe – Auswirkungen (= Schriftenreihe der Kommission für Provenienzforschung 6), Wien-Köln-Weimar 2015, 103–128, URL: doi.org/10.7767/9783205201564-007.

Archives

BDA-Archiv, Restitutionsmaterialien, K. 10/1, sog. Posse Korrespondenz; K. 22, Bergungsort Altaussee; K. 22/1, Bergungsort Altaussee I; K. 22/2, Bergungsort Altaussee II; K. 22/3, Bergungsort Altaussee III; K. 22/4, Bergungsort Altaussee IV; K. 22/5, Bergungsort Altaussee V.
BDA-Archiv, Bundesdenkmalamt allgemein, K. 32, Zentralbergungsort Altaussee (1967–1984).
BDA-Archiv, Haager Konvention, K. 2 (1982–1985).

BArch Berlin, NS 6/413.
BArch Berlin, NS 8/190.
BArch Koblenz, B323/106.

OeStA/AdR, UWK, BMU, II, 15B1, K 97, 98.

UAAbKW, Zl. 303/1943.

GND: 7560631-8

VIAF: 246318459

Wikidata: Q1635896

Eissler, Hermann

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:38:06 +0000

Eissler, Hermann Konstantin Ferihumer Wed, 11/18/2020 - 12:17

Hermann Eissler

21 July 1860 Vienna – 26 February 1953 Nice

Hermann Eissler studied geology at the University of Vienna, writing his doctoral thesis in 1883 on the geological structure of the Rax Alps. Afterwards, he joined the family timber business J. Eissler & Brüder and became a partner in 1897. Apart being an enthusiastic alpinist, Hermann and his brother Gottfried (1861–1924) were among the most important art collectors in Vienna. The collection was notable above all for its focus on outstanding French (Edouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, Théodore Géricault, Auguste Rodin etc.) and Austrian (Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Rudolf von Alt, August von Pettenkofen etc.) nineteenth-century art. His interdisciplinary collecting and lending activities enabled Hermann to make numerous contacts in national and international art circles. In 1929 he married Hortense Kopp, daughter of the mayor of Wimpassing. After the annexation of Austria to the German Reich, Eissler, who was considered a Jew, sold four chemist's panels by Waldmüller in June 1938 to the planned Kunstmuseum Linz through the mediation of the Munich art dealer Maria Almas-Dietrich. In October 1938 the works were divided up within the family between Berta Morelli, his daughter from an earlier relationship, and his "Aryan" wife. Despite this, the collection was secured just a short time later by order of the Vienna monuments authority through department MA2 of the Vienna city council. After the couple's planned departure to Nicaragua in early 1939 had failed, Hermann Eissler managed to reach Switzerland on his own via Hungary and from there continued to southern France. Hortense Eissler applied for divorce a few months later to prevent the Kleinzell Kreisbauernschaft (rural council) gaining access to Eissler's estate there. Both she and Berta Morelli sold several items in the following years to the Sonderbeauftragter (special representative) for the Kunstmuseum Linz. In 1948 Hermann Eissler returned to Vienna for the first and only time. In July 1951 he married Hortense for a second time in Nice, where he died in 1953. He had not made any claims for restitution under the laws in force at the time. It was not until 1964 that Hortense Eissler recognized Waldmüller's painting Dorf Ahorn (The Village Ahorn near Ischl) and the chemist's panels during a visit to the Österreichische Galerie. After the attempt to repurchase Dorf Ahorn failed, she filed a claim for return of the picture with the Landesgericht für Zivilrechtssachen (Provincial Court for Civil Law) in Vienna, which in 1972 refused the claim. The Oberstes Gerichtshof (Supreme Court) confirmed the judgment, since the deadlines for asserting restitution claims had expired. Hortense Eissler died in 1983.

At its meeting of 24 June 2009, the Art Restitution Advisory Board recommended the restitution of the chemist's panels to the legal successors of Hermann Eissler. No such recommendation was made for Dorf Ahorn.

Keywords

Art collector

Nazi persecutee

Anneliese Schallmeiner

6 January 2019

Publications about the person / institution

Beschluss des Kunstrückgabebeirats, Hermann Eissler, 24.6.2009, URL: www.provenienzforschung.gv.at/beiratsbeschluesse/Eissler_Hermann_2009-06-24.pdf (3.12.2020).
Beschluss des Kunstrückgabebeirats, Hermann Eissler, 20.11.2009, URL: www.provenienzforschung.gv.at/beiratsbeschluesse/Eissler_Hermann_2009-11-20.pdf (3.12.2020).

Ausstellungskatalog Waldmüller, Ausstellung von Werken alter und moderner Kunst, Wien Galerie Miethke November–Dezember 1904, Wien 1904.
Ausstellungskatalog Ausstellung Deutscher Kunst aus der Zeit von 1775–1875, Gemälde und Skulpturen. Königliche Nationalgalerie Berlin, Januar–Mai 1906, Berlin 1906.
Ausstellungskatalog Sammlung Eißler Wien. Erster Teil. Alte u. neue Meister mit Ausschluß der Österreicher, Wien Kunstsalon Pisko 20–29.3.1908, Wien 1908.
Ausstellungskatalog Manet-Monet, Wien Galerie Miethke 1910, Wien 1910.
Ausstellungskatalog Corot-Delacroix-Courbet, Wien Galerie Miethke Februar–1.3.1911.
Ausstellungskatalog Französische Meister, Wien Galerie Miethke Jänner–Februar 1912.
Ausstellungskatalog Exposition rétrospective d'oeuvres de Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), Galerie Marcel Bernheim 5.–24.1.1925, Paris 1925.
Ausstellungskatalog Die führenden Meister der französischen Kunst im XIX. Jahrhundert, 82. Ausstellung der Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs Secession März–April 1925, Wien 1925.
Ausstellungskatalog Kaiser Franz Josef Jubiläumsausstellung »Altwiener Malerei«, Kunstverein München 6.–20. Jänner 1911, München 1911.

Katalog der Jubiläums-Ausstellung zur Feier des 80. Geburtstages von Professor Rudolf Alt, Genossenschaft der bildenden Künstler Wiens, Wien, 29.4.1892.

Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Internationale Kunst in der Wiener Secession, in: Ausstellungskatalog Heiliger Frühling – Gustav Klimt und die Anfänge der Wiener Secession 1895–1905, Graphische Sammlung Albertina 16.10.1998–10.1.1999, Wien 1999, 162–196.

Alexandra Caruso/Anneliese Schallmeiner, Getrennt und gemeinsam: Die sammelnden Brüder Gottfried und Hermann Eissler, 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, 99–134, URL: doi.org/10.7767/boehlau.9783205793564.99.

Franz Theodor Csokor, Schuß ins Geschäft (Der Fall Otto Eissler) (= Außenseiter der Gesellschaft – Die Verbrechen der Gegenwart 10), Berlin 1924.

Willy O. Dressler, Dresslers Kunstjahrbuch 1907. Ein Nachschlagebuch für deutsche bildende und angewandte Kunst, Jg. 2, Rostock 1907.
Willy O. Dressler, Dresslers Kunstjahrbuch 1909. Ein Nachschlagebuch für deutsche bildende und angewandte Kunst, Jg. 2, Rostock 1909.

Theodor von Frimmel, Die Waldmüller-Ausstellung in Miethkes Kunstsalon, in: Neue Freie Presse, 3.12.1904, 20, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nfp&datum=19041203&seite=20 (3.12.2020).
Theodor von Frimmel, Lexikon der Wiener Gemäldesammlungen A–F, München 1913.

Georg Gaugusch, Wer einmal war. Das jüdische Großbürgertum Wiens 1800–1938. A–K (= Jahrbuch der Heraldisch-Genealogischen Gesellschaft Adler, 3. Folge 16), Wien 2011.

Leo Grünstein, Gottfried Eissler als Sammler, in: Versteigerungskatalog Nachlass Gottfried Eissler. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Miniaturen, Plaketten, Silber, Keramik etc., Wien 1925.

Christian Huemer, Charles Sedelmeyer (1837–1925). Kunst und Spekulation am Kunstmarkt in Paris, in: Belvedere. Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst 5 (1999) 2, 4–19.

Vladislava Janušková, Kurzgefasste Geschichte der Stadt Bzenec bis zur Zeit vor dem I. Weltkrieg, Pädagogische Fakultät Brünn, Bakkalaureatsarbeit 2007.

Kommission für Literarische Gebrauchsformen der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Hg.), Arthur Schnitzler Tagebuch 1879–1892, Wien 1988.

Catherine Krahmer (Hg.), Julius Meier-Graefe. Kunst ist nicht für Kunstgeschichte da, Göttingen 2001.

Walter Koschatzky, Gabriele Koschatzky-Elias, Rudolf von Alt mit einer Sammlung von Werken der Malerfamilie Alt der Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG, Wien 2001.

Sophie Lillie, Was einmal war. Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens (= Bibliothek des Raubes 8), Wien 2003.

Tobias G. Natter, Die Galerie Miethke. Eine Kunsthandlung im Zentrum der Moderne, Katalog zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung, Wien 19.1.2003–8.2.2004, Wien 2003.
Tobias G. Natter, Carl Moll – Stationen eines bewegten Lebens, in: Ausstellungskatalog Carl Moll (1861–1945). Maler und Organisator, Salzburg 1998, 25–39.

Therese Nickl/Heinrich Schnitzler (Hg.), Arthur Schnitzler. Jugend in Wien. Eine Autobiographie, Frankfurt am Main 2006.

Paul Rachler/Matthias Boeckl, Das Medium als Botschaft. Ausstellungen als Verbreitungsmotor von Ideen der Moderne, in: Ausstellungskatalog Wien-Paris. Van Gogh, Cézanne und Österreichs Moderne 1880–1960, Wien 2007, 11–21.

Paul Gustav Reinhardt (Hg.), Biographien der Wiener Künstler und Schriftsteller I, Wien 1902.

Arthur Roessler/Gustav Pisko, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Wien 1907.

Werner J. Schweiger, Die Wiener Kunstwanderungen 1902 und die erste Ausstellung der ‚Modernen Galerie, in: Belvedere, Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst (2004) 2, 53–63.

Arpad Weixlgärtner, August von Pettenkofen, Wien 1916.

Publications by the person / institution

Hermann Eissler, Edelweiß, Lieder eines Bergfexen, Wien 1888.
Hermann Eissler, Die Touristik als Sport, in: Deutsche Wacht, 5.6.1890.

Archives

Archiv der Österreichischen Galerie Belvedere, Zl. 208/1928; Zl. 41/1924; Zl. 898/1911; Zl. 344/1941.

Archiv der Wirtschaftskammer Österreichs, Registerblatt II für Gesellschaftsfirmen, Zl. 28/1871.

BDA-Archiv, Ausfuhrakten, K. 7, Zl. 764/1924.
BDA-Archiv, Historische Materialien, Wohnungsanforderungen I., II. Bezirk, GZ. 1987/1920, K I., II. Bezirk, GZ. 1996/1920, I., II. Bezirk, GZ. 2023/1920, K Wien XIII.-XXIII. Bezirk, GZ. 2904/1919.
BDA-Archiv, Restitutionsmaterialien, K. 34, PM Hortense Eissler, K. 41/1, PM Berta Morelli, K. 13/1, M. 11, K 10, M. 4, K 27/1, M. 3 und 6.
BDA-Ausfuhr, Zl. 1509/1938, Zl. 3076/1939, Zl. 4107/1939.

NÖLA, Arisierungs- und Rückstellungsakten, Hermann Eissler, AND.

OeStA/AdR, E-uReang, VVSt, VA 668, Hermann Eissler; VA 669, Hortense Eissler.
OeStA/AdR, UWK, BMU, Sammelmappe 311.
OeStA/HHStA, Kabinettskanzlei, K. Z., Vorträge, K 8, GZ. 1313/1901.

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Zentralarchiv, IV/NL Bode 1637; IV/NL Bode 1638.

UAW, Fotoalbum für Sueß, Eduard (20.08.1831–26.04.1914; Geologie), Sign. 106.I.2500, 1901.

Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Handschriftensammlung, Nachlass Arthur Roessler, I.N. 149.726.

WStLA, Handelsgericht Wien, J. Eissler & Brüder, GZ. 28-6-97.
WStLA, LG für Zivilrechtssachen Wien, 25 Cg 199/39: Aufhebung der Ehe zwischen Hortense und Dr. Hermann Eissler am 31.8.1939; Zl. 63 RK 1446/49; 39 d Cg 120/70; 39 d Cg 147/71; 7 Ob 139/72.
WStLA, Vereinsarchiv, K. 1923, Gesellschaft zur Förderung moderner Kunst in Wien, Statuten und Protokoll der konstituierenden Versammlung am 23.2.1923.

GND: 1063682088

VIAF: 311756511

Wikidata: Q51131634

Bundesdenkmalamt

Susanne Hehenberger — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 15:28:09 +0000

Federal Monuments Authority

Susanne Hehenberger Mon, 11/29/2021 - 15:50

Bundesdenkmalamt

other names: k. k. Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Baudenkmale (1850–1873), k. k. Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Kunst- und historischen Denkmale (1873–1911), k. k. Zentralkommission für Denkmalpflege (1911–1918), deutschösterreichisches Staatsdenkmalamt (1918–1920), Bundesdenkmalamt (1920–1934), Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz im Bundesministerium für Unterricht (1934–1938), Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz im Ministerium für innere und kulturelle Angelegenheiten (1938/39–1940), Institut für Denkmalpflege (1940–1945), Staatsdenkmalamt (1945–March 1946), Bundesdenkmalamt (since March 1946)

The constituting meeting of the Imperial Royal Central Commission for the Investigation and Preservation of Monuments (k. k. Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Baudenkmale) established at the end of 1850 as an advisory committee took place in 1853. It was initially answerable to the Imperial Royal Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Public Buildings and, from 1859, to the Imperial Royal Ministry of Culture and Education. Baron Carl Czoernig von Czernhausen chaired the Central Commission until 1865 and was succeed by Baron Josef Alexander von Helfert, who remained in office until 1910. In 1873, the commission was reorganized and renamed the Imperial Royal Central Commission for the Investigation and Preservation of Art and Historical Monuments (k. k. Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Kunst- und historischen Denkmale). In the second half of the nineteenth century its activities were limited almost exclusively to advice on preservation of historically valuable objects, the investigation of monuments in the crownlands, and the publication of the results in series such as the Mitteilungen and Jahrbücher der k. k. Zentralkommission. The first volume of Österreichische Kunsttopographie came out in 1907. After Helfert's death, the Central Commission came under the protection of the heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The statutes were amended in 1911 and the authority renamed Imperial Royal Central Commission for Monument Preservation (k. k. Zentralkommission für Denkmalpflege). Within the institution, the State Monuments Office (Staatsdenkmalamt) was responsible among other things for the newly established Art History Institute directed by Max Dvořak, whose work today is carried out by the Department of Inventory and Monument Research of the Austrian Federal Monuments Authority.

After the First World War and the collapse of the monarchy, the law of 5 December 1918 banning the export of objects of historical, artistic or cultural significance was intended to stop the massive migration of art and cultural assets to other countries. The legislation soon proved to be inadequate. It was not until the legally defined inclusion of the German-Austrian State Monuments Office (deutschösterreichisches Staatsdenkmalamt) in the asset capital levy and housing requisition legislation after 1919 that the state authority also had information about private art collections in Austria. Under the new laws, collectors could be exempted from financial levies and the reduction of their living space by making their collections accessible to the public. To do this, however, they had to provide the State Monuments Office with lists of their collections and allow it to inspect them in situ. In this way, the monuments authority was able to gain an overview of existing private art and cultural assets, creating the basis for a steadily growing and centralized corpus of knowledge. The Federal Constitution promulgated on 1 October 1920 made monument protection a federal matter, and the State Monuments Office was renamed Federal Monuments Authority (Bundesdenkmalamt). The amended version of the Export Prohibition Act in January 1923 allowed the monuments authority to place art and cultural objects under state oversight. After decades of efforts to establish a legal regulation for monument protection, the Monument Protection Act also entered into force in September 1923. It included not only art and cultural objects but also groups and collections that formed an entity on account of their historical, artistic or cultural context and whose preservation was in the public interest. Preservation orders were issued from 1924. The first centrally administered monument list was created in 1931, containing several movable monuments, such as the Beethoven Frieze, the Czernin'sche Gemäldegalerie and parts of Stefan Auspitz's collection. That same year, Fortunat Schubert-Soldern, who was the sole board member after 1913 and president of the Federal Monuments Authority from 1928, was replaced by Leodegar Petrin. During Petrin's period of office, considerable cost cuts were introduced, resulting in a reduction in monument preservation measures and also the publication of a new series, the Austrian Dehios. The Federal Monuments Office was dissolved as an independent authority through the Federal Law of 25 May 1934 and was replaced by the Central Monument Protection Office (Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz) within the Federal Ministry of Education.

After the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany, the Central Office received additional funding and staffing. Leodegar Petrin retired in September 1938 and was succeeded by Herbert Seiberl as provisional director of the Department of Historical Cultural Monuments and Kurt Willvonseder as head of the Prehistoric and Early History Department. Following the move from Palais Starhemberg on Minoritenplatz to the Salesianerinnenkloster at Rennweg 8, a restoration workshop and photo laboratory were added. The discriminatory Nazi laws forced persecutees to leave the country. As part of the inspection of removal goods by the Bezirkshauptmannschaften (district captaincies), the Central Monument Protection Office was responsible for the registration of valuable art and cultural objects. By the end of 1938, employees had processed more than 9,500 export applications and conducted the same number of inspections. By the end of 1941, more than 17,500 applications had been received. In around 900 cases, the Central Office prohibited the export or retained the objects. Various "safeguarding measures" were also carried out on behalf of the monuments authority. The measures contained in § 4a of the 1923 Export Prohibition Act, such as the "securing" of objects to prevent their export, facilitated the expropriation of art and cultural objects legalized by the Nazis. The Viennese municipal authorities and the various Bezirkshauptmannschaften handed over the collections of Oscar Bondy, Hermann Eissler, Otto Pick, Nathan Eidinger and others to the Central Office. The objects were stored on site or in the Central Office depot, the Orangery in the Lower Belvedere. Some objects secured earlier were also in the Central Depot of Seized Art Objects in the Neue Burg. In July 1940, Friedrich Plattner, State Commissar for Education, Culture and Popular Education, also gave the Central Office responsibility for the 6,000 seized cultural objects stored in the Central Depot in the Neue Burg. After the "special representative" (Sonderbeauftragter) Hans Posse had made his selection for the planned art museum in Linz, the rest of the seized and secured objects, which under Nazi law later became the property of the German Reich, were dispersed as part of the "Führer distribution" among museums in Vienna and the Gaus. Even before they were distributed, the Ministry for Internal and Cultural Affairs had entrusted the subordinate Central Monument Protection Office with protecting fixed monuments and movable private and ecclesiastical assets. In 1940 the Central Monument Protection Office was dissolved and replaced by the Institute for Monument Preservation (Institut für Denkmalpflege) headed by Herbert Seiberl as the central scientific institute directly answerable to the Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture (REM). The Gau conservation departments (Gaukonservatorate ) were attached to the Reich governors' offices (Reichsstatthaltereien). Coordinated by the Central Salvaging Office (Zentralstelle für Bergungsmaßnahmen) in the Department of Art Promotion, State Theatres, Museums and Popular Education, the employees of the Institute for Monument Preservation, together with representatives of the museums and libraries, organized the transport of art and cultural objects to over 200 storage sites in the Lower Danube and Vienna. From August 1943 transports organized by the monuments authority, initially ecclesiastical objects and items from the museum in Wiener Neustadt, went from Vienna to the Altaussee salt mine. From October 1943, art and cultural objects from secured and seized collections were moved successively. From 1944, objects were transferred from the depot in Kremsmünster Monastery, from the Old Reich, such as from the "Führerbau" in Munich. The stored objects were managed locally. Measures were undertaken in Vienna at the same time to protect historical buildings and monuments and to photograph and document them.

After the war and the re-establishment of the State Monuments Office pursuant to the provisions of the Authority Transfer Act, ten employees were dismissed with retroactive effect from 27 April 1945 as "illegals", including Herbert Seiberl, Kurt Willvonseder, Walter Frodl and Waltraude Oberwalder, and two were suspended. Thirty-five employees were deemed to be "exonerated" and eight "minor offenders". In 1947 the Landeshauptmannschaft in Carinthia classified Walter Frodl as a "minor offender" and he was rehired by what was now the Federal Monuments Authority (BDA) in 1948. Three restorers, including Emmerich Bergthold, and an architect were retained as irreplaceable despite their political incrimination. Karl Krenn, head of the Prehistory Department of the Naturhistorisches Museum, was interim director of the State Monuments Office until he was succeeded in August 1945 by Alphons Quiqueran-Beaujeux. In July 1946, Otto Demus became director of the Federal Monuments Authority. He saw it as his task to bring back the dispersed art objects to Austria and restore them to their rightful owners, but also to retain the most important works for public collections – either through compensation or exchange. Apart from the repair of war damage and the necessary securing and reconstruction of buildings and monuments damaged in air raids, the monuments authority in collaboration with the Allied military authorities also organized the return after the war of the stored objects. Only after they had been released by the occupying powers could the cultural objects of proven Austrian provenance be transported to the monuments authority's Vienna depots. From 1948, objects that had been transported directly after the war by the US troops from the salt mine in Altaussee to the Central Collecting Point (CCP) in Munich were moved to the Salzburg Residenz depot managed by the Federal Monuments Authority. The monuments authority was closely involved in the implementation of the seven restitution laws enacted until 1949, among other things by acting as trustees, storing and delivering the goods. The provisions of the Export Prohibition Act led to numerous forced "donations" to Austrian museums in return for approval from the Federal Monuments Authority for the export of the remaining restituted objects. In 1952 the objects still in Munich assigned to Austria by the US forces were transported from the CCP in Munich via Salzburg to the BDA depot in Vienna. It was not until the Volksgericht judgment of September 1952 regarding the forfeiture of Adolf Hitler's assets that the objects of Austrian provenance earmarked for the planned art museum in Linz became the property of the Republic of Austria. The BDA was put in charge of them until their restitution or assignment to federal museums in 1963. It gradually emptied the depots in Vienna. Objects whose former owners could no longer be identified, objects from former Nazi offices and in the command headquarters of the occupying powers, and the remaining objects from Altaussee salt mine and other depots in the provinces were given to the BDA in 1966 for safekeeping. They were inventoried and stored in the Charterhouse in Mauerbach, Lower Austria. Apart from a few restitutions under the two art and cultural object settlement laws of 1969 and 1985, the more than 8,400 "ownerless" objects remained there until they were taken over in 1995 by the Bundesverband der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinden.

Since 1998, the Commission for Provenance Research, today part of department IV/B/4/b Art Restitution and Memory Culture in the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport, has had offices on the premises of the Federal Monuments Authority. The office supports provenance researchers in the various collections, helps compile dossiers and also manages the publicly accessible BDA archive and the restitution and export documents contained in it that are required for research.

Keywords

Nazi asset expropriation

Anneliese Schallmeiner

27 October 2021

Publications about the person / institution

Theodor Brückler, Zur Geschichte der österreichischen Denkmalpflege. Die Ära Helfert, Teil 1: 1863 bis 1891 (= Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 25/1), Wien-Köln-Weimar 2020.
Theodor Brückler, Thronfolger Franz Ferdinand als Denkmalpfleger. Die "Kunstakten" der Militärkanzlei im Österreichischen Staatsarchiv (Kriegsarchiv), (= Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 20), Wien-Köln-Weimar 2009.
Theodor Brückler, Die Österreichische Denkmalpflege 1945–1947. "Resurrectio" oder "Reanimatio"?, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege 58 (2004), 390–443.
Theodor Brückler, Zum Problem der Restitution von Kunstschätzen nach 1945, in: Unsere Heimat 2 (1999), 89–99.
Theodor Brückler, Kunstwerke zwischen Kunstraub und Kunstbergung: 1938–1945, in: Theodor Brückler (Hg.), Kunstraub, Kunstbergung und Restitution in Österreich 1938 bis heute (= Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 19), Wien-Köln-Weimar 1999,
Theodor Brückler, Entstehung und Wirkung des österreichischen Ausfuhrverbotsgesetzes 1918–1923, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege 48 (1994), 1–18.
Theodor Brückler, Vom Konsilium zum Imperium. Die Vorgeschichte der österreichischen Denkmalschutzgesetzgebung, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege 45 (1991), 160–173.
Theodor Brückler, "Verländerung" der österreichischen Denkmalpflege in der NS-Zeit und die Gründung des Instituts für Denkmalpflege 1940, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege 44 (1990), 184–194.
Alexandra Caruso/Anneliese Schallmeiner, Das Bundesdenkmalamt und der Bestand der sogenannten "1960er Zuweisungen", in: Olivia Kaiser/Christina Köstner/Markus Stumpf (Hg.), Treuhänderische Übernahme und Verwahrung. International und interdisziplinär betrachtet (= Bibliothek im Kontext 3), Göttingen 2018, 99–114, URL: library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/29569 (29.9.2021).
Martha Fingernagel, Zur Geschichte der österreichischen Denkmalpflege. Die Ära Helfert, Teil 2: 1892 bis 1910 (= Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 25/2), Wien-Köln-Weimar 2019.
Walter Frodl, Idee und Verwirklichung. Das Werden der staatlichen Denkmalpflege in Österreich (= Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 13), Wien–Köln–Weimar 1988.
Eva Frodl-Kraft, Gefährdetes Erbe. Österreichs Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 1918–1945 im Prisma der Zeitgeschichte (= Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 16), Wien-Köln-Weimar 1997.
Kurt Haslinger, Mauerbach und der lange Weg bis zur Auktion: 1969–1996, in: Theodor Brückler (Hg.), Kunstraub, Kunstbergung und Restitution in Österreich 1938 bis heute (= Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 19), Wien-Köln-Weimar 1999, 39–52.
Gerhard Sailer, Rückbringung und Rückgabe: 1945–1966, in: Theodor Brückler (Hg.), Kunstraub, Kunstbergung und Restitution in Österreich 1938 bis heute (= Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 19), Wien-Köln-Weimar 1999, 31–38.
Anneliese Schallmeiner, Inventarisierungsansätze 1918/1919 und einige Vorläufer in der österreichischen Denkmalpflege bis 1923, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege 73 (2019), 106–117.
Anneliese Schallmeiner, Die Denkmalbehörde, das Wohnungsanforderungsgesetz (StGBl. 223/1919 vom 12.1.1919) und das Vermögensabgabegesetz (StGBl. 371/1920 vom 21.7.1920) im Hinblick auf die Sicherstellungen von Kunstsammlungen in Wien während der NS-Zeit. Unveröffentlichte Abschlussarbeit Zertifikatskurs Forum Kunstrecht Wien 2016.
Anneliese Schallmeiner, Die modernen Nibelungen "salzen" ihre Schätze ein. Altaussee als Bergungsort des Instituts für Denkmalpflege, in: Pia Schölnberger/Sabine Loitfellner (Hg.), Bergung von Kulturgut im Nationalsozialismus. Mythen – Hintergründe – Auswirkungen (= Schriftenreihe der Kommission für Provenienzforschung 6), Wien-Köln-Weimar 2015, 103–128, URL: doi.org/10.7767/9783205201564-007.
Fortunat Schubert-Soldern, Die Denkmalpflege Österreichs bis zur Systemzeit, in: Deutsche Kunst und Denkmalpflege (1938),119–123.
Leonhard Weidinger, The Mauerbach Stock – Where Did the So-Called Ownerless Objects Come From?, in: Olivia Kaiser/Christina Köstner/Markus Stumpf (Hg.), Treuhänderische Übernahme und Verwahrung. International und interdisziplinär betrachtet (= Bibliothek im Kontext 3), Göttingen 2018, 71–84, URL: library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/29569 (29.9.2021).

Publications by the person / institution

Bundesdenkmalamt (Hg.), Dehio – Die Kunstdenkmäler Österreichs, Reihe.
Bundesdenkmalamt (Hg.), Fokus Denkmal, Reihe.
Bundesdenkmalamt (Hg.), Fundberichte aus Österreich, Reihe.
Bundesdenkmalamt (Hg.), Österreichische Denkmaltopographie, Reihe.
Bundesdenkmalamt (Hg.), Österreichische Kunsttopographie, Reihe.
Bundesdenkmalamt (Hg.), Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege (ÖZKD), Reihe.
Bundesdenkmalamt (Hg.), Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege, Reihe.
Bundesdenkmalamt (Hg.), Wiederhergestellt, Reihe.
Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Hg.), Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi, Reihe.

Archives

BDA-Archiv, Bundesdenkmalamt allgemein; Restitutionsmaterialien, Ausfuhrmaterialien, Personalakten, NS-Materialien.
OeStA/AdR, 15B1, Denkmalamt.
Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, VEAV, Bundesdenkmalamt.

GND: 39718-0

VIAF: 127762370

Wikidata: Q876452

Frodl, Walter

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:39:36 +0000

Frodl, Walter

Leonhard Weidinger Tue, 03/09/2021 - 20:05

Walter Frodl

16 December 1908 Straßburg / Strasbourg, Alsace – 10 April 1994 Vienna

Walter Frodl obtained his doctorate in art history and archaeology in July 1930 from the University of Graz and worked thereafter as an unpaid assistant in the Kärntner Landesdenkmalamt (Carinthian Provincial Monuments Authority). After studying architecture for a few semesters at the Technische Hochschule (Technical College) in Graz, he was employed in the Klagenfurt branch of the Österreichisches Verkehrsbüro. He joined the NSDAP in May 1933. He continued his work as a research assistant in the field of monument preservation in December 1936 and in April 1937 was assigned to the Landeskonservatorat (provincial monument preservation authority) in Klagenfurt as a non-permanent public officer of the Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz (Central Monument Protection Authority) and became its director a year later. Because of the large number of applications for export and the associated examination of art and cultural assets, not least as a consequence of the persecution of Jews by the Nazis, he was seconded in July 1938 to the export department of the Central Authority in Vienna and for a time also shared responsibility for the Landeskonservatorat in Salzburg. Two years later he was employed by the Kulturkommission (Culture Commission) in South Tyrol on behalf of the SS research institute Deutsches Ahnenerbe e. V., where he was responsible for registering German cultural assets. From winter 1941 he was a monument preservation consultant for Fritz Todt, Generalinspektor für das deutsche Straßenwesen (Inspector General for German Highways), during the construction of the Reich autobahns. After the restructuring and renaming in 1940 of the Central Monument Protection Authority within the Ministerium für innere und kulturelle Angelegenheiten (Ministry of Internal and Cultural Affairs) as Institut für Denkmalpflege (Institute for Monument Preservation) within the Reichsministerium für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung (Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture) in Berlin, the Gau monument protection authorities were incorporated in the respective Reichsstatthalterei (Reich governor's office). Frodl worked at the same time as Gau conservation officer for Carinthia. In February 1942 Friedrich Rainer, Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter in Carinthia, appointed him director of the Gau museum in Klagenfurt and a public officer with tenure. At the end of 1942 he obtained his habilitation and became a lecturer in art history and monument preservation at the University of Graz and lecturer in monument preservation at the Technische Hochschule in the same city. From September 1943 until the end of the war he was responsible for monument protection in the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral.

In 1946 the Carinthian provincial government dismissed Frodl from the public service as an "illegal" under § 14 of the Prohibition Act but revoked the dismissal retroactively in June 1947 but nonetheless removed Frodl from the service of the Carinthian provincial government. According to a certificate from the Klagenfurt city council of 25 July 1947, Frodl was classified as a minor offender. At the same time his habilitation was also revoked. He was supported, however, by Otto Demus in his application for re‑employment by the monuments authority. He worked initially as a contract employee in the restitution department of the Bundesdenkmalamt (Federal Monuments Authority) until he became Landeskonservator (provincial monument protection officer) in Styria in autumn 1948. In that year his habilitation was recognized again and he became a lecturer in monument protection again at the Technische Hochschule in Graz. He was allowed to teach at the University of Graz a year later. In 1952 he became head of the Institut für Österreichische Kunstforschung (Institute for Austrian Art Research) in the Federal Monuments Authority. In the same year he was appointed Staatskonservator 2nd class and two years later Staatskonservator 1st class. In 1956 he was authorized to teach at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna and was named an extraordinary professor in 1958. In subsequent years he continued his academic career in art history, monument protection and building documentation at various foreign universities. Apart from his functions on the advisory board for urban planning in Vienna and as a member of the examination board for higher civil servants (Höherer Technischer Dienst), he was also president of the Federal Monuments Authority from 1965 to 1970. In October 1970 he was awarded the Großes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich (Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria).

Keywords

Archaeology

Monument preservation

Art history

NSDAP membership

University professor

Anneliese Schallmeiner

6 January 2019

Publications about the person / institution

Ernst Bacher, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Walter Frodl 80 Jahre, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege 42 (1988), 195–200.

Publications by the person / institution

Walter Frodl, Fresken des Heiligen Riesen Christophorus in Kärnten, Dissertation Universität Graz 1930.
Walter Frodl, Kärntner Denkmalpflege im Jahre 1938, in: Carinthia I. Geschichtliche Beiträge zur Heimatkunde Kärntens. Mitteilungen des Geschichtsvereines für Kärnten 129 (1939) 1, 202–208, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=ca1&datum=1939&page=211 (3.12.2020).
Walter Frodl, Zur Unterschutzstellung denkmalwürdiger Gebäude in Kärnten, in: Carinthia I. Geschichtliche Beiträge zur Heimatkunde Kärntens. Mitteilungen des Geschichtsvereines für Kärnten 129 (1939) 2, 297–305, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=ca1&datum=1939&page=308 (3.12.2020).
Walter Frodl, Meister Thomas von Villach, in: Carinthia I. Geschichtliche Beiträge zur Heimatkunde Kärntens. Mitteilungen des Geschichtsvereines für Kärnten 130 (1940) 1/2, 354–379, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=ca1&datum=1940&page=360 (3.12.2020).
Walter Frodl, Die Wandgemälde zu St. Gandolf im Glantal, in: Carinthia I. Geschichtliche Beiträge zur Heimatkunde Kärntens. Mitteilungen des Geschichtsvereines für Kärnten 131 (1941) 2, 471–473, URL: hanno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=ca1&datum=1941&page=485 (3.12.2020).
Walter Frodl, Die Kärntner Denkmal- und Museumspflege in den Jahren 1940 bis 1942, in: Carinthia I. Geschichtliche Beiträge zur Heimatkunde Kärntens. Mitteilungen des Geschichtsvereines für Kärnten 132 (1942) 1–2, 262–334, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=ca1&datum=1942&page=264 (3.12.2020).
Walter Frodl, Die romanische Wandmalerei in Kärnten, Klagenfurt 1942.
Walter Frodl, Neue Werke Josef Ferdinand Fromillers, in: Carinthia I. Geschichtliche Beiträge zur Heimatkunde Kärntens. Mitteilungen des Geschichtsvereines für Kärnten 133 (1943) 1–3, 82–95, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=ca1&datum=1943&page=88 (3.12.2020).
Walter Frodl, Ein neues Werk des Malers Simon von Taisten, in: Carinthia I. Geschichtliche Beiträge zur Heimatkunde Kärntens. Mitteilungen des Geschichtsvereines für Kärnten 133 (1943) 1–3, 126–134, URL: anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=ca1&datum=1943&page=144 (3.12.2020).
Walter Frodl, Die gotische Wandmalerei in Kärnten, Klagenfurt 1944.
Walter Frodl, Die romanische Wandmalerei in Kärnten, Klagenfurt 1944.
Walter Frodl, Die romanischen Wandgemälde in Pürgg nach der Entrestaurierung, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege (ÖZKD) (1948) 2, 148.
Walter Frodl, Glasmalerei in Kärnten, 1150–1500, Klagenfurt-Wien 1950.
Walter Frodl, Kärntner Kunststätten, Klagenfurt-Wien 1955.
Walter Frodl, Kunst in Südtirol, München 1960.
Walter Frodl, Denkmalbegriffe, Denkmalwerte und ihre Auswirkung auf die Restaurierung, Wien 1963.
Walter Frodl, Idee und Verwirklichung: das Werden der staatlichen Denkmalpflege in Österreich, Wien 1988.

Franz Fuhrmann/Walter Frodl (Hg.), Salzburger Kunststätten, Klagenfurt-Wien 1956.

Archives

BDA-Archiv, PA Walter Frodl; NL Walter Frodl, K. 7.

OeStA/AdR, UWK, BMU Personalakten, Sign. 19/23, Walter Frodl.
OeStA/AdR, UWK, BMU Personalakten, Sign. 3/38, Walter Frodl.

GND: 118536273

VIAF: 42629291

Wikidata: Q15241018

Seiberl, Herbert

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:40:51 +0000

Seiberl, Herbert

Leonhard Weidinger Tue, 04/27/2021 - 10:15

Herbert Seiberl

30 March 1905 Pöggstall – 15 November 1952 Bad Aussee

While studying law, Herbert Seiberl was until 1929 a student in Hans Tichy and Josef Jungwirth's painting class at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien (Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna). In 1930 he obtained a doctorate in law and in 1935 in art history at the University of Vienna. He worked as an assistant teacher from 1931 to 1935 at the secondary school in Hollabrunn, Lower Austria. While teaching, he offered several times to assist in the culture department of the Vaterländische Front (Fatherland Front), which he joined in December 1933. Afterwards he was a voluntary assistant in the sculpture and applied arts collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, until he was employed in September 1936 as a research assistant at the Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz (Central Monument Preservation Office) in the Federal Ministry of Education.

He joined the banned NSDAP in 1933 without, as he stated in his Volksgericht trial in 1947/48, ever having been active. In his membership application in May 1938, however, he stated that he had supported the July putsch in Bad Mitterndorf, Styria, in 1934 and encouraged employees of the Zentralstelle to abstain from voting in the plebiscite on Austria's independence announced by Kurt Schuschnigg. He joined the NSDAP officially on 1 May 1938 with membership number 6,200.962. In 1938 he headed NS cell IV of the Ministry of Education group at the Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz. After the retirement of Leodegar Petrin, president of the monuments authority, in September 1938, Seiberl became temporary head of the Zentralstelle and later temporary head of the department for historical cultural monuments. After the annexation of Austria to the German Reich, both president Petrin and his successor Seiberl insisted on the notification of artworks in the registration form under § 12 of the 1923 Denkmalschutzgesetz (Monuments Preservation Act). This enabled them to waive the export regulations in the Austrian Denkmalschutzgesetz and avoid the introduction of the Reichliste national wertvollen Kunstguts (Reich cultural heritage list). In December 1938 Seiberl drew up plans at Gasthaus Zur blauen Traube in Bad Aussee for one of the most important museums of folk life and folk art in the province of Austria, which was to open there in 1942. Its holdings were made up of parts of the collections of Rudolf Stiassny, Stephan, Konrad and Anna Mautner, Ernst Königsgarten and Aranka Munk stored in Altaussee, Bad Aussee and Grundlsee. By order of the Zentralstelle, district and provincial authorities throughout Austria had secured many works of art from March 1938 under § 4a of the 1923 Export Prohibition Act. Seiberl and his colleagues managed and later stored the secured collections, which from July 1939 also included the art works reserved for the "Führer". Among the artworks and cultural objects stored from October 1939 in the Orangery in the Lower Belvedere, one of the monuments authority depots, were objects from the collections of Serena Lederer, Oscar Bondy, Fritz Mandl, Julius Priester and Paul Zsolnay. In July 1940 Friedrich Plattner, State Commissar for Schools, Culture and Popular Education, commissioned Seiberl to manage the sixteen seized Viennese collections, including those of Louis and Alphonse Rothschild, Alfons Thorsch and Otto Pick. Some of the objects were still in the Zentraldepot in the Neue Burg, whereas other had already been transferred to "Jagd" in Steinbach near Göstling for storage. After the restructuring and renaming of the Zentralstelle für Denkmalsschutz in the Ministry for Internal and Cultural Affairs as Institut für Denkmalpflege (Institute for Monument Preservation), Seiberl became overall head of the authority in 1940. When monument preservation became a task of the provincial authorities, he had to double as Gaukonservator for Vienna and Lower Danube answerable to the Reichsstatthaltereien (Reich governors' offices). As head of the Institute, on the other hand, he was answerable directly to the Reichsministerium für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung (Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture) in Berlin. In both functions he was responsible for salvaging movable artworks and securing immovable ones, as well as monument preservation and conservation. He prevented the demolition of the listed but decrepit Schloss Thürnthal in Lower Danube by combining the necessary restoration in 1943 with the adaptation of the castle as a depot for the Viennese collection of Anton Lanckoroński. Together with Franz Juraschek, Upper Danube Gaukonservator, he established the salt mine in Altaussee as a depot. In late August 1943 he organized the first transport there. Initially he planned to salvage only those artworks and cultural objects for which he was responsible as Gaukonservator, including objects from the cathedral and Stadtmuseum in Wiener Neustadt. From October 1943, salvage transports were extended gradually to the collections secured by the monuments authority, including objects from the collections of Serena Lederer, Bruno Jellinek and Julius Freund. This was followed by various objects acquired as part of the "Sonderauftrag Linz" and objects from the "Altreich" (artworks from the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg from Schloss Neuschwanstein, objects from the NSDAP chancellery in Berlin, the "Führerbau" in Munich, etc.). Gottfried Reimer appointed Seiberl in 1944 as his deputy in Altaussee. After it became known that August Eigruber, Gauleiter und Reichstatthalter of Upper Danube, intended to destroy the mine and the artworks stored in it, Seiberl and a few colleagues organized the transfer of the most valuable items to alternative storage areas inside and outside the mine. When the 3rd US Army under General George Patton took over the depot on 8 May 1945, Seiberl was stripped of his authority for the site.

Because of his NSDAP membership, Seiberl was dismissed from his position in the public administration with backdated effect to 6 June 1945. With his former colleague Hilde Schrader, he founded the Restaurierwerkstätte Seiberl und Schrader in Bad Aussee. In 1948 the Volksgericht in Linz acquitted Seiberl of charges under §§ 8, 10 and 11 of the Prohibition Act (registration fraud, Illegality, and qualified illegality). In its judgment the court referred to statements by some employees of the Bundesdenkmalamt (Federal Monuments Authority) stating that he had continued to employ political persecutees and those persecuted persons under the Nazi Nuremberg race laws (including Eva und Victor Kraft, Theodor Hoppe, Erwin Hainisch, Josef Zykan and Hubert Bernhard). He worked as a restorer until his death in November 1952.

Keywords

Civil servant

Salvaging

Monument preservation

Anneliese Schallmeiner

25 April 2021

Publications about the person / institution

Theodor Brückler, Die "Verländerung" der österreichischen Denkmalpflege in der NS-Zeit und die Gründung des Instituts für Denkmalpflege 1940, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege (ÖZKD) 44 (1990), 184–194.

Theodor Brückler/Ulrike Nimeth, Personenlexikon der österreichischen Denkmalpflege, Wien 2001.

Lisa Frank, ... unabhängig vom Schicksal des Originals... Der Fotobestand in der Kommission für Provenienzforschung, Diplomarbeit Universität Wien 2012.

Eva Frodl-Kraft, Gefährdetes Erbe. Österreichs Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 1918–1945 im Prisma der Zeitgeschichte, Wien-Köln-Weimar 1997.

N. N., Nachruf Dr. iur. et phil., Akad. Maler Herbert Seiberl †, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege (ÖZKD) 7 (1953), 47.

Publications by the person / institution

Herbert Seiberl, Die Plastik des XVI. Jahrhunderts in Wien und Niederösterreich, Dissertation Universität Wien 1935.
Herbert Seiberl, Ein Salzburger Bildwerk im Prager Landesmuseum, in: Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien N. F. 12 (1938), 157–173.
Herbert Seiberl, Zur Geschichte der Gmundner Hafnermalerei, in: OÖ Heimatblätter 1 (1947), 308–314.

Archives

BDA-Archiv, PA, K. 33, M. Herbert Seiberl; Korrespondenzen Walter Semetkowski; Restitutionsmaterialien, K. 3, K. 3/1, K. 10, K. 10/1, K. 22, K. 22/4, K. 27, K. 27/1.

KHM-Archiv, 25/KL/1940.

OÖLA, Sondergerichte, Vg 8 Vr 6756/47, Herbert Seiberl.

OeStA/AdR, ZNsZ, Gauakt 87.062, Herbert Seiberl.
OeStA/AdR UWFuK BMU PA Sign 3 Herbert Seiberl

Universitätsarchiv der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Studienakt Nr. 553, Herbert Seiberl.

UAW, PH RA 12497, Rigorosenakten der Philosophischen Fakultät, Herbert Seiberl, März 1935.

GND: 1069962856

VIAF: 315574480

Wikidata: Q94931921

Thürnthal, Schloss

acolono — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:38:56 +0000

Thürnthal, Schloss Konstantin Ferihumer Wed, 11/18/2020 - 12:23

Schloss Thürnthal

Thürnthal castle

Thürnthal, Fels am Wagram

also Thürntal Castle

After Emma and Antonia Bunzel ceded title to Thürnthal Castle near Fels am Wagram to the German Reich at the end of June 1943 under the 11th Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Law, the Oberfinanzpräsident for Vienna and Lower Danube took over administration of the building complex. The Institute for Monument Preservation in Vienna was allowed to use the castle as a depot for the duration of the war. The depot manager was Adolf Graf sen., the Institute's joiner. The Vienna architect Josef Friedl was commissioned to plan the repair and conversion work on the baroque castle, a listed building since 1939 but in extremely dilapidated condition. Among the reasons for converting the castle into a protected depot was an order by Hitler to evacuate from Vienna the entire Anton Lanckoronski collection, which was now exclusively reserved for the "Führer", despite claims by Reich Marshal Hermann Göring and the Haupttreuhandstelle Ost. The results of the investigation by the chemist Maximilian Eder in November 1943, which determined that the humidity on the first two floors, where several paintings were already stored, was too high, did not prevent Herbert Seiberl, head of the Institute for Monument Preservation responsible for salvaging, from stepping up the work in Thürnthal. The billeting of French prisoners of war in the south wing of the castle also apparently did not conflict with the storage principle of separating people and objects. By the end of the year, the artworks stored since 1942 at Immendorf Castle and Anton Lanckoronski's library from Vienna, the library of the Institute for Monument Preservation and the War in Heaven group from the portal of St Michael's Church in Vienna were moved there. In early 1944 the large-format paintings for the "Führermuseum" in Linz were transferred there from Kremsmünster Benedictine Abbey. Objects managed and stored by the monuments authority that had been seized from the collections of Serena Lederer, Albert Pollak, Otto Pick, Markus Lindenbaum, David Goldmann, Emil Karpeles-Schenker and Elisabeth Fischer, and the remainder of the seized Rothschild collections in Vienna that had not been distributed were also stored there before being transferred to the salt mine in Altaussee. From May 1944 the castle also served as a depot for thousands of objects taken from the collection of Baron Jean Cassel van Doorn in France by order of the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce and stored in Thürnthal and Altaussee under the code name "Aktion Berta". Despite several air raids on the nearby airfield at Fels am Wagram, the removals and evacuations from Vienna continued. In July 1944 the eight-section Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt from the Lederer collection was stored in the castle chapel. The last transports from Vienna included the remains of the seized collection belonging to Rudolf Gutmann, which until then had been stored at the depot of the Institute for Monument Preservation in the Lower Belvedere Orangery. The transfer from Steyersberg Castle planned for February 1945 did not take place because of the weather conditions and the absence of vehicles. After the war the Thürnthal depot was administered by Soviet occupation troops and was seized with its contents in late July 1946 by the Landeskommandantur der Roten Armee für Niederösterreich. After several rounds of negotiations by the Austrians, goods in the depot with demonstrable Austrian provenance were finally released in December 1946 and transferred to the monuments authority depot. After the handing over of the objects from "Aktion Berta" to the French authorities in August 1947, the castle was emptied, except for the Beethoven Frieze, which was not transferred to Altenburg Abbey until August 1956, and some other residual items. In April 1950 Thürnthal Castle and its grounds and annexes were restored to the former owner Emma Barber, née Bunzel, who had fled to Britain in July 1938. Her sister and former co-owner of the castle, Antonia Bunzel, and her father Guido Bunzel were murdered in 1942 in Maly Trostinec.

Keywords

Salvaging

Depot

Anneliese Schallmeiner

6 January 2019

Publications about the person / institution

Theodor Brückler, Schloß Thürntal als Kunstgut-Bergungsort während des Zweiten Weltkrieges, in: Jahrbuch für Landeskunde von NÖ, Neue Folge 63/64 (1997/98), 205–224.
Theodor Brückler, Kunstwerke zwischen Kunstraub und Kunstbergung 1938–1945, in: Theodor Brückler (Hg.), Kunstraub, Kunstbergung und Restitution in Österreich 1938 bis heute (= Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 19), Wien-Köln-Weimar 1999, 13–30.

Dehio Niederösterreich, Nördlich der Donau, Wien 1990.

Eva Frodl-Kraft, Gefährdetes Erbe. Österreichs Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege 1918–1945 im Prisma der Zeitgeschichte, Wien-Köln-Weimar 1997.

Christina Gschiel, "Transport der Teile ohne zu schneiden". Die Bergung des Beethoven-Frieses aus der Sammlung Lederer in Schloss Thürnthal, in: Pia Schölnberger/Sabine Loitfellner (Hg.), Bergung von Kulturgut im Nationalsozialismus. Mythen – Hintergründe – Auswirkungen (= Schriftenreihe der Kommission für Provenienzforschung 6), Wien-Köln-Weimar 2016, 359–382, URL: doi.org/10.7767/9783205201564-018.

Claudia Kutschera, Machbarkeitsstudie Schloss Thürnthal im Weinviertel, Diplomarbeit Technische Universität Wien 2015.

Archives

BDA-Archiv, Restitutionsmaterialien, K. 3, Bergungsort Thürntal und "Aktion Berta".
BDA-Archiv, Restitutionsmaterialien, K. 3/1, Bergungsort Thürntal und "Aktion Berta".
BDA-Archiv, Topographische Materialien, Niederösterreich, K. 75, M Schloss Thürntal.

GND: 1065201621

VIAF: 313429399

Wikidata: Q2243719