Circumstances
In 1977, a GDR citizen who worked part-time as an art dealer inherited three valuable paintings from his parents, both of whom also had been art dealers, including “Hercules and Achelous” by Cornelis van Haarlem. In 1979, he submitted his first application to leave the GDR, but later withdrew it. In connection with this application, the State Security Service launched an initial investigation with the aim of preventing his departure. These investigations revealed evidence that he had not provided truthful information to the GDR tax authorities about the extent and value of his inheritance. In 1985, department HA VII initiated an operational investigation against him, which led to a preliminary investigation with detention in accordance with Section 176 of the GDR Criminal Code. He was accused of evading inheritance and property tax and of possessing two valuable paintings that were classified as GDR cultural assets and were at risk of destruction or intended for sale. The information received by the State Security Service that led to the investigation had been provided by IMB “Willi Ekkert”. The findings were forwarded to the Tax and Duties Department of the Berlin Municipal Authority and to the public prosecutor’s office. Experts from the KuA and the IM “Skulptur” (Sculpture) were consulted to estimate the value of two paintings, including the work “Hercules and Achelous”, which had been mistakenly titled ‘Odysseus’ Fight with the Bull’. The paintings were confiscated by police and customs on 24 September 1985 and transferred to the KuA warehouse. The informant had also indicated that the person concerned had allegedly planned to sell the paintings to a „well-known” Austrian citizen. Therefore, in addition to the IMB “Willi Ekkert”, who had already been assigned to the case, the HIM “Thomas Schade” and neighbours of his apartment were also brought in to clarify the inheritance matter. As in other tax proceedings, not only the top pieces but the entire collection and usable household goods were used to calculate and settle the tax liability. The amount finally demanded in 1987 was slightly more than 100,000 East German marks.
Research in the Federal Archives – Stasi Records Archive
Various files relating to this case of cultural property confiscation were found in the Federal Archives – Stasi Records Archive (StUA). A structured search of the records of Abteilung 13 of HA VII led to a file entitled: “Reports and information, primarily on smuggling and speculation offences committed by GDR citizens and foreigners.” This file contains references to violations of GDR customs and foreign exchange laws in general and to the present case in particular. The aforementioned archive material was also identified during the person-based research, as the person concerned is significantly portrayed therein.
In addition to the person concerned, the informants involved in the case served as a starting point for the person-based research once their code names were decrypted. In addition to the single-volume operational file on the person concerned, this search method also revealed a corresponding two-volume IM-file entitled „Skulptur” (Sculpture) and the multi-volume IM files “Willi Ekkert” and “Thomas Schade”, as well as two files from the records of Hauptabteilung VII and the investigation report compiled by HA VIII. This object-related (thematic) search for the painting “Hercules and Achelous” was unsuccessful here because the work’s name had not been correctly entered into the Stasi documents identified thus far.
The documents preserved in the StUA on this case of cultural property confiscation and the criminal prosecution of the former owner are evidence of the working methods of the State Security Service in general and the so-called political-operational cooperation between the security authorities and the “social forces” in particular – in this case, the senior employees in the respective workplaces of the person concerned. This form of cooperation is evidenced by the original transcripts of the accused’s interrogation by the Tax Investigation Department of the Berlin Municipal Authority, and by copies of his personnel files. In addition, the case shows the intertwining of civil authorities and the State Security Service. The current value assessment of the two most valuable paintings – including the work by Cornelis van Haarlem described here as „mythical scene with bull and figures” – carried out by VEB (K) Antikhandel is preserved in the original, and the current value assessment carried out by KuA is preserved in a copy. The Stasi file also contains a reference to the seizure of an additional 88 objects from the possession of the person concerned and a note on the agreement with the head of the Cultural Property Protection Commission of the GDR Ministry of Culture on the classification of the painting by van Haarlem as cultural property of the GDR – Category II – and its acquisition by the Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (Picture Gallery of the Berlin State Museums).
Research in the GDR archives of the Federal Archives, including SAPMO
The GDR holdings mainly contain references to the exploitation in this case. Kunst und Antiquitäten GmbH took over goods worth around 88,000 East German marks, mainly prints and paintings valued at between 150 and 4,000 marks, furniture, clocks, porcelain, but also a radio for 50 marks. The purchase agreement between the Finance and Tax Department of the Berlin Municipal Authority and KuA, dated 10 February 1987, has been preserved. In addition to the item descriptions, the list contains the serial numbers from the current value assessment XVIII/5 (the 18th value assessment of 1985). The KuA only accepted 88 items from the value assessment list, which comprised at least 158 items. The long period between confiscation and the purchase agreement is unusual. The background history involving the KuA, evident in the MfS files, does not appear to have been recorded here. On 18 February 1987, the Finance and Tax Department of the Berlin Municipal Authority consigned 9,200 marks worth of gold and silver jewellery, 1,200 marks worth of silver coins and a collection of Notgeld (emergency banknotes) of the confiscated property to the Vault Administration of the Ministry of Finance, due to its responsibility for the exploitation of confiscated precious metals and foreign means of payment. The collection of emergency money was resold to the State Art Trade Company of the GDR on 25 February 1987 for 2,055.50 marks. The State Art Trade Company operated several specialist numismatic shops that were suitable for reselling. The booking numbers in the records show, that the the precious metal content of the jewellery and coins was melted down at the Halsbrücke refinery; the removed gemstones were apparently sold to the state owned goldsmiths company VEB Zwickauer Edelschmiede, for reuse.
A memo from the Cultural Property Protection Commission dated 27 July 1987 is the only reference to the case in the documents of this institution. According to this memo, the Cultural Property Protection Commission was not informed of the cultural property finds until early 1987. In the summer of 1987, the two most valuable paintings, including “Hercules and Achelous”, were by then in the Berlin Gemäldegalerie, as part of a donation agreement that the owner had apparently been persuaded to sign. However, a reversal was looming because, due to the former owner's poor health, the Finance Department wanted to discontinue the tax proceedings and return the cultural assets in its custody, which would have rendered the donation agreement null and void. In response, the chairman of the Cultural Property Protection Commission considered ways to prevent the return of the two paintings.
Results of the research
The case clearly shows that, despite differing legal access regulations, the existing overall responsibility for the archival sources of the Soviet Occupation Zone/GDR in the Federal Archives provides a very good basis for supporting provenance research, although in the case described, the records contain mostly evidence lacking sufficient descriptions of the confiscated objects.
The painting was restituted in 2008.