61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

exchanges were subject to the additional condition and/or opportunity of doing
business with sums of money in different currencies and in line with various
convertibility rules. The clearing conditions or exemptions therefrom were an
important element of trade. 18 Whereas in normal cases the payments resulted
from a change of ownership, in a remarkable number of cases, as the activities of
Fides show, this change of ownership could have merely been the outcome of an
effort to dispose of existing assets. Changes of ownership can be assumed to have
occurred very frequently in the art market at this time; the number of sellers
increased, whereas the number of purchasers declined, not only after 1933 but
also before this date as a result of the crisis. However, the increase of supply did
not have to be significant in order to have a great effect. The prices were generally
low. The best indicator of price is the revenue from auctions, which were an open
market and thus generated maximum levels of interest.
In a number of cases, we noted that the fairly low prices were further forced
down by the purchasers (including museums), a procedure which was
considered normal. The trade in works of art that were questionable in many
respects, represented a substantial part of ordinary art dealing and was generally
regarded as unproblematic. It was part of the contemporary art market in a way
which it should not have been, had the conventional norms governing the
protection of private property and the more recent human rights standards
which were gaining ground during the war been taken into account. Perhaps
even at the time, but certainly in retrospect, it is astonishing to what extent the
conduct of certain dealers and art owners lacked insight and understanding –
even during the restitution period from 1946 to 1952 – and to see what
decisions were taken in a number of Supreme Court rulings.
State and law
Of course, the persons operating on behalf of the state were also actors albeit,
perhaps, in secondary roles. Although distinctions must be made regarding
state responsibility, a subject especially interesting to us, it is easier to make
generalised statements here than in the complex field of private art dealing.
Cross-border art dealing took place largely under the watchful eyes of the
authorities, and involved a relatively high level of red tape. The Swiss Clearing
Office (Schweizerische Verrechnungsstelle, SVSt) dealt with numerous purchases and
sales and often granted exemptions, i.e., clearance, both for Jewish emigrants
and Nazi collections.
The civil servants acting on behalf of the state operated in accordance with the
law, but also in the country’s economic interests. The importance attached to
the economy is evident from the Clearing Commission’s discussion of this issue
in May 1935:
353