Expert Opinion - Nazi Looted Art

18
There is no document to back up assertions often made in public that Alfred Hess
was selling artworks continuously beginning in 1926, but especially as of 1929, due
to business difficulties caused by the Great Depression. As a matter of fact, the M. u.
L. Hess Schuhfabrik AG was able to increase its assets and its annual net earnings
to close to RM 400,000 by 09/30/1930 despite the crisis in the shoe industry (see
also Chapter 1, II, 1, 18 th Annual Report). Economic difficulties first occurred in the
fiscal October 1, 1930 to September 30, 1931 year (see Chapter 1 II. 1, 19 th Annual
Report).
It is known that the kind of art which was in the collection of Alfred and Thekla Hess
had been closely observed by the Nazis in the State of Thuringia since 1930.
Wilhelm Frick, a member of the Nazi party, named Interior and Education Minister,
shortly after taking office published the infamous edict: “Against Negro Culture and
for German Tradition.” With active protection from his cultural advisor Paul Schultze-
Naumburg it led to the first attack on the modern classics in Weimar where within a
few hours all avant-garde works were removed from the exhibition space of the
Weimar State Museum. The action involved about seventy works of all reputable
representatives of the genre, who had also been promoted by Alfred Hess and
whose paintings he collected.
It was already in the twenties that major right-wing papers had been thundering
against the “Jewishness of Erfurt” and cited the Hess shoe factories and their owner
Alfred and Thekla Hess by name, claiming they exemplified the prevailing
“Jewishness” of the German economy.
Evidence: Echo Germania No. 42/27 and 47/27, a weekly publication.
Following the sale of their villa in Erfurt to Georg Hess, an uncle, in September 1932,
Thekla Hess’ life was centered at the home of her family, the Pausons, in
Lichtenfels, Bavaria, her birthplace. She took the works of art that had been in the
villa, thus getting them out of reach of the nationalistic agitators in Thuringia. It is
said that she gave two Nolde paintings to family members, as reported in the article
“The Collection of Alfred Hess” by Christina Feilchenfeldt and Peter Romilly.
Evidence: “Weltkunst” [World Art], October 1, 2000, 1855 –1857.
According to records of the Berlin art dealer Justin Thannhauser, Stefan Pauson, the
brother of Thekla Hess indicated on the occasion of a visit to him in early October
1932 that his sister was not well and that he, Stefan, wanted to urge her to sell some
of the artworks.
Evidence: Customer files of the Gallery Thannhauser in reference to the Stefan
Pauson visit on October 12, 1932.
However, no such sales took place. Other than the two cited Nolde paintings that
were given to family members, there is no proof of any works of the Hess collection
changing ownership during the period of difficult economic conditions (documented
as of October 1930). Nor are there any indications that works from the collection
were offered to art dealers at the time.
The loans to the museums from the Hess collection remained in place.