61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

exhibited in 1937 in art galleries in Bern and Basel. 28 On her death in 1962,
Jöhr’s heir, Marianne Krüger-Jöhr, left it to the Bündner Kunstmuseum in
Chur. 29 In the late 1990s, Silberberg’s daughter-in-law and sole heir, Gerta
Silberberg, applied for the painting to be returned to her, and this was done
in 2000. The painting was later sent to auction and now has a new owner.
The trade in «degenerate art»
From the outset, the National Socialists were hostile to modern art. However,
the category of «degenerate art», which was singled out for repression and
elimination, was not devised by the Nazis. National Socialism was «merely» an
enthusiastic advocate of a pre-existing anti-modernist concept of art – albeit
displaying a recklessness and zeal which matched its brutal nature, combined
with a rapacious greed for classical and Romantic works. In 1937, around
20,000 works of art were seized in 101 public collections in museums and art
galleries throughout Germany. Works by Jewish artists naturally fell victim to
the purge; most of the German Expressionists were also regarded as «degenerate»,
but so too was all abstract art such as that of the Cubist and Constructivist
schools, and to some extent even the French Impressionists, which were
classed, at the very least, as «decadent». The confiscated works were mainly
public or semi-public possessions owned by the local municipalities. In cases
where the confiscations also included loans, they thus involved private property
– a fact which has rarely been considered up to now.
The Nazi regime’s prime concern was to remove the Expressionists, Cubists,
etc., from circulation and withdraw them from public view and individual
attention. A secondary issue which arose was what to do with this confiscated
art. National Socialist artistic policy identified three possible uses for these
«degenerates»: exploitation for political propaganda purposes, financial use
through sale abroad, and destruction.
The first option is well-known as a result of the «Degenerate Art» («Entartete
Kunst») exhibition in Munich from July to November 1937. This was intended
to show the public that «irresponsible» museum directors in the period before
the National Socialists seized power had squandered millions of marks – the
«hard-earned savings of the German people» – on art which was «the enemy of
the people». It was also intended to be a negative contrast to the parallel «Great
German Art Exhibition», which was supposed to reflect the «healthy» artistic
tastes of the German people and their true representatives and leaders. 30 The
spectacular event of 1937 was preceded by local exhibitions, beginning
immediately after the Nazis’ seizure of power in 1933, which featured
«chambers of horrors». 31
The second option – commercial use – was implemented in a number of ways. One
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