2016 - News - Detail Page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

A total of five works of art from several German museums were handed over to the heirs of the Chemnitz banker Carl Heumann at the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus today. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the Dresden State Art Collections and the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus restituted the works within the framework of fair and equitable solutions based on the Washington Principles of 1998 in recognition of Carl Heumann's fate of persecution. Michael Heumann, who lives in the USA, accepted the works as representative of the community of heirs.
Carl Heumann had built up a comprehensive collection of drawings, watercolours and prints of the German school from 1750 to 1850, preferably German Romans and Nazarenes. He was regarded as a recognised expert on the art of the early 19th century and was a sought-after lender to many museums. From 1938 at the latest, he was systematically persecuted by the National Socialist regime because it considered him to be "Jewish". As part of the provenance research carried out on the works, it was established that the circumstances under which Carl Heumann sold the five works between 1939 and 1944 were different. Against this background, the three museums have each found a different fair and equitable solution with the heirs.

Press images:

https://www.preussischer-kulturbesitz.de/newsroom/presse/pressebilder.html

https://www.lenbachhaus.de/presse

https://www.skd.museum/besucherservice/presse/bilder/

Carl Heumann

Carl Heumann was born in Cologne in 1886 to Jewish parents. In 1908, he moved to Chemnitz, where he worked for the banking house Bayer & Heinze from 1911, becoming a co-owner in 1920. From the 1920s onwards, he became an art collector and built up a collection of German and Austrian art from the 18th and 19th centuries with a focus on Romanticism. Between 1933 and 1945, Carl Heumann repeatedly sold works from his collection. These sales may have served to secure his livelihood, but probably also to sharpen the profile of his collection. Heumann also purchased a considerable number of new works during the Nazi era and was still interested in collecting even in 1944.

With the introduction of the "Nuremberg Race Laws" on 15 September 1935, Heumann was considered a Jew in the National Socialist system, although he had converted to Protestantism in 1917. Initially, he did not experience any persecution, presumably because he lived in a "privileged mixed marriage", as his wife Irmgard (née Buddeke) was considered an "Aryan" in Nazi racial studies. Perhaps his office as Vice Consul of Portugal, which he held from 1929 to 1939, also offered him protection. Nevertheless, he was successively disenfranchised from 1933 onwards. His situation worsened from 1938, mainly due to his forced resignation from the bank and a security order that meant he could no longer dispose of his assets himself, with the exception of a monthly pension. Parts of his art collection, which Heumann kept in safe deposit boxes, were immediately seized from him in August 1938 following the application of the Foreign Exchange Act. For the years 1938 and 1939, Heumann was also obliged to pay a five-figure "Jewish property levy". From the introduction of the "Jewish star" on 1 September 1941, he hardly dared to leave his house.

After the death of his wife in January 1944, Heumann lost the protection afforded by the "privileged mixed marriage". His sons Rainer and Thomas were sent to labour camps, his daughter Ulrike was placed in the care of her uncle and he himself was threatened with deportation. Carl Heumann died in a bombing raid on Chemnitz on 5 March 1945 while trying to rescue a suitcase containing works of art from the cellar of his house. Part of the art collection was also destroyed. However, over 500 works were stored in banks and were given to Carl Heumann's descendants after the war, who had survived.

As the Heumann family still feels very close to Germany, some members of the family have applied for re-naturalisation as German citizens in Germany. Carol Heumann Snider, the granddaughter of Carl Heumann, writes a blog about her family history, especially about her father Thomas Heumann as well as her grandfather Carl Heumann and his art collection:
https://lettersfromomi.blogspot.com/

Berlin

As part of the provenance research project on the "Collection of Drawings", two graphic works that belonged to the Carl Heumann Collection and were sold by him between 1933 and 1945 were identified in the Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Friedrich Jentzen's "Portrait of the Master Builder August Stüler" (c. 1830) was purchased at auction from C. G. Boerner in Leipzig on 19 February 1942 for RM 420 for the "Collection of Drawings". Johann Jakob Schillinger's "Devil's Bridge" (c. 1800) was acquired on 24/25 May 1944 at the Murnau Auction XXV at Karl & Faber in Munich for RM 1,000. There are other works with a Heumann provenance in the collections of the Staatliche Museen. However, these had remained in the family's possession during the Second World War and were not sold until 1957. The SPK has reached an agreement with Heumann's heirs that the "Devil's Bridge" will be restituted, while Jentzen's portrait of Stüler will remain in the collection.

Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK, says: "Seeing the Heumann family's connection to Germany is very touching when you know the fate of Carl Heumann and his children during the National Socialist era. A great collector, and yet his name and fate are almost unknown today. Provenance research is bringing his and many other life stories back to light, and every restitution is to some extent also a remembrance."

Dresden

As part of the SKD's "Daphne Project", a collection of around 1,400 graphic works from the so-called "Linz Special Commission", which remained in Dresden in 1945 due to the war, is being analysed in the Kupferstich-Kabinett. In the course of the provenance research, three works from the Heumann Collection were identified, all of which were acquired from the art antiquarian C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, in May 1944: The work "Girl with Parrot" (oil on paper, 1840) by Jakob Gensler (1808-1845), as well as two watercolours by Peter Fendi (1796-1842): "Catholic Priest with Communion Vessels" and "Porch of a Church with Crucifix, Priest and Altar Boys". As all three works were sold after the death of Carl Heumann's wife, they were restituted to the heirs in 2020 as cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution.
Stephanie Buck, Deputy Director General of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and Director of the Kupferstich-Kabinett: "The restitution of the three drawings from Dresden is another important result of the provenance research that has been intensively pursued at the SKD for many years. Its aim is to identify objects that are unlawfully in our holdings. We are very pleased that, in close dialogue with the family and by means of a transnational network, we have succeeded in reconstructing the fate of Carl Heumann and his collection and, as a result, in finding a just and fair solution in line with the Washington Principles."

Munich

The Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus has restituted the drawing "Fischerweide" by the artist Albert Emil Kirchner (1813-1885) from 1854. The museum had acquired the work at an auction organised by C. G. Boerner's art and book antiquarian bookshop in Leipzig in April 1939.

Anton Biebl, Head of Cultural Affairs for the City of Munich, says: "Restitution means giving people back a piece of their past and giving the victims a name. It is very important to me to act in accordance with moral and ethical standards. I am therefore particularly pleased that the City of Munich has decided to return the drawing "Fischerweide" to the Heumann family." The Culture Committee of the City Council of the City of Munich decided on the restitution on 17 September 2020. The City of Munich is thus taking a clear position: the injustice committed during the "Third Reich" must not be repeated.