61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

Germany, either through auction or private sale. A special category of the goods
sold to Switzerland were the artworks which had originated in Switzerland.
Every German art dealer sought to sell these works – either directly or through
a middleman – in Switzerland, as this ensured the best price for this type of
work. These sales are not necessarily an indication of regular and intensive
business contacts between the German and Swiss art markets, but were the
dealers’ response to the market. The art market pursued this strategy at all
times, not only during the period from 1933 to 1945. Moreover, as long as there
was a market for them in Switzerland, works from Jewish collections were sold
on in Switzerland. The agents between the German Jewish collections and the
Swiss art market were often German Jewish art dealers who acted as «intermediaries»
prior to their emigration or during their stay in Switzerland. This type
of transfer was based in particular on the expertise of these intermediaries and
on the favourable prices which resulted from the over-supply of Jewish collections
in the German Reich market. This opportunity to purchase (and resell) on
favourable terms was also exploited by Swiss art dealers, especially the Galerie
Fischer in Lucerne. Therefore only the second category was time-specific;
however, both categories were based on the violent break-up of Jewish art
collections in the Third Reich. It is easier to find evidence of Switzerland’s role
as a «hub» for flight assets, whereas the transit of looted goods through
Switzerland can only be proved in individual cases. A well-known example is
the fate of the painting «Landscape with chimneys» («Landschaft mit Schornsteinen»)
by Edgar Degas, dating from 1890/93: it was purchased at an auction
in Paris in 1919 for the Max Silberberg collection in Breslau – in 1932, it went
back to auction in Paris – from there it passed to the Dutch collector Fritz
Gutmann, who gave the painting for safekeeping or resale to Paul Graupe in
1939, who lived in Paris from 1937/1938 – later it was transferred to
Switzerland by Hans Wendland and Fritz Fankhauser – and sold to the New
York collector Emile Wolf in 1951 – 1987 acquisition by Daniel C. Searle –
1998 presented to the Art Institute of Chicago. 25 It is by no means surprising
that a painting of such «problematic» provenance did not reappear on the art
market until many years after the end of the war. As a result of «Aryanisations»
or «liquidations of looted art», at least 14 pictures are proved to have been transferred
from occupied France to Switzerland. It is possible that investigations in
other «Aryanised» galleries will bring to light further examples of «Aryanised»
cultural assets which were transferred to Switzerland.
Silberberg and the paintings «Stockhornkette» and «Nähschule»
Max Silberberg, a wealthy industrialist from Breslau, was forced to sell a large
part of his art collection at auctions in 1935 in order to finance his survival.
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