Kurt Walter Bachstitz

Kurt Walter Bachstitz was a German-Dutch art dealer. He was born on the 4th October, 1882 and died in The Hague in 1949^[1][2]

General Information

Bachstitz was of Jewish origin and held Austrian nationality. He lived in Vienna and in Berlin and he created an internationally known company with art galleries in The Hague, New York City and Berlin. He married Elfriede Pesé with whom he had two children – a son Walter Werner Michael who died in the 1940s and a daughter, Margit Martha^[3] who died in South Africa in 1982. His marriage to Elfriede was unsuccessful and in 1918 Bachstitz married his second wife, Elisa ("Lilly") Emma Hofer. In 1920 he established an art dealership in the Hague named Kunsthandel K.W. Bachstitz (Bachstitz Gallery N.V.)

In 1938 the couple moved to The Hague, Lilly was a German and not Jewish. She was the sister of art dealer Walter Andreas Hofer who had managed the Gallery in The Hague for a while and subsequently became an art buyer for Herman Göring.

World War II

Between the beginning of the German occupation in 1940 and 1941 Bachstitz sold a number of paintings to the "Sondernauftrag Linz" that was run by Hans Posse^[4] until his death in 1942.

Among the works sold to the Sonderauftrag were the following:

• Ferdinand Bol “The Angel of the Lord appears unto Gideon” NK 2484
• Stephan Godl “Adam and Eve” NK 636-a-b
• Greek / Tanagra Figure “Standing Woman” NK 620; RMO, Leiden; CCP-Database
• Girolamo da Santa Croce “Saint John the Baptist” NK 1627
• German (Cologne) “A small altar with saints and two scenes” NK 2707
• German (also Alpian) “St. Mary and St. John before the Crucifixion” NK 1552
• Greek Snake Bracelets NK 864-a-b
• Greek Carnelian Engraved Gem 2904
• Gerrit Berckheyde “Grote Markt with Cathedral St. Bavo in Haarlem” NK 2581; CCP-Database; Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
• Alexander Colin “Heavenly Apparition over a Town” NK 631
• Canaletto (copy after) "The return of the Bucintoro to the Molo on Ascension day" NK 1798
• J. van Scorel "St. Paul" NK 2919
• P. Cappelli "Roman Capriccio" NK 1892
• Greek Golden bracelet with Serapis head, 1st century NK 865/CCP-Database, RMO, Leiden
• Surrounding of Giovanni di Francesco del Cervelliera Frame NK1787
• Duquesnoy, François "Cupido" (attribution: Venice, 16th century) CCP-Database
• Greek "standing woman 'the night' (Nyx)" CCP-Database; Getty Villa Malibu

In February 1941 Bachstitz officially resigned as supervisory director of the Bachstitz Gallery and his wife became the managing director. Together with his wife, he continued to provide a clandestine management role. In this way, they avoided having the Gallery placed under the forced administration for the duration of the war. According to the documents in the file concerning his successful application to become a Dutchman after the war^[5] the couple provided undercover protection for Jews trying to escape the authorities.

In 1942 Bachstitz was summoned by the occupation authority (the "Wirtschaftsamt") as he had failed to register the gallery as "non-Aryan property". Proceedings were commenced against him and he was arrested by the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in July 1943 and imprisoned in the Scheveningen prison in The Hague. Due to an intervention of Göring initiated by Bachstitz' brother-in-law Hofer, he was released from prison. He was then also exempted from wearing the Star of David. Furthermore, the couple had their marriage dissolved in September 1943 to prevent the confiscation of the gallery by the occupying authority.

Between 1942 und 1944 Bachstitz sold a number of works to the museums that were run by Kurt Martin, the head of the Museums of the Upper Rhine (Alsace and Baden) under Robert Heinrich Wagner.^[6]

In 1944 Bachstitz managed to obtain permission to leave the Netherlands and he immigrated to Switzerland, again with the help of Andreas Hofer.^[7]

As a bribe for the exit visa Bachstitz had to hand over art to Hermann Göring, namely a painting with the Samson and Delilah motive by Jan Steen,^[8] as well two antique necklaces.^[9]

After The War

After the war the Allies returned most of the art that the gallery had sold to German authorities to the Netherlands. The Netherlands restituted the painting by Jan Steen^[10] (NL-HaNA, Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit (SNK), 2.08.42) but rejected an application for the restitution of the other works. They became part of the Collection of the Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit (SNK). Kurt Walter Bachsitz and Lilly Bachstitz-Hofer were again registered as officially married. Kurt Walter Bachstitz died in 1949. In 1951 his widow liquidated the Bachstitz Gallery N.V. with a high deficit.^[11] The gallery's art library was auctioned off.^[12]

In 2009 the Dutch government restituted the painting "Roman Capriccio" by Pietro Capelli from the stock of the SNK to Kurt Walter Bachstitz' grandchildren.^[13] The Restitution Committee of the Netherlands denied though a restitution claim concerning a number of other works, among them the works sold to Hitler (Sonderauftrag Linz). In view of most of these works the Committee argued that these sales had not been made under duress because Kurt Walter Bachstitz had been left "undisturbed" in 1940 and 1941.^[14] The grandchildren applied in 2013 for the re-opening of the case in this regard.^[15]

In July 2013 the Prussian Heritage Foundation restituted a Tyrolean gothic wall-mounted writing slate (ca. 1500) and a large 16th century Italian bronze mortar.^[16] Kurt Walter Bachstitz' grandchildren are still searching for many works of art that were lost due to National-Socialist persecution^[17]

See also

• Wilhelm Mautner
• Jacques Goudstikker

References

Links

1. "Bachstitz | Restitutiecommissie". restitutiecommissie.nl. Retrieved 2014-03-30. 
2. http://www.lostart.de/Content/051_ProvenienzRaubkunst/DE/Beteiligte/B/Bachstitz,%20Kurt%20Walter.html?cms_lv2=5340&cms_lv3=25510
3. "Bachstitz-Erben erhalten Raubkunst zur�ck". art-magazin.de. Retrieved 2014-03-30. 
4. "Berliner Kunstgewerbemuseum restituiert zwei Werke an die Erben des Kunsthändlers Bachstitz - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz". preussischer-kulturbesitz.de. Retrieved 2014-03-30. 
5. "Art library of the late K.W. Bachstitz (Bachstitz Galleries), The Hague. : Internationaal Antiquariaat (Menno Hertzberger) : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". archive.org. Retrieved 2014-03-30. 

External links