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| "Entartete Kunst": Background
By Ronald Glomb
For the infamous exhibition "Entartete Kunst" ("Degenerated Art") in Munich, which was opened on 19 July 1937, a number of public museums in Germany were looted by the Nazis. Many works of Jewish and non-Jewish German artists were branded as the work of "mentally ill" persons, as "un-German" and "Bolshevist". Only a few months after the opening of the exhibition, in the fall of 1937, the remaining works of art in over a hundred museums were confiscated. Those that were regarded as being unexploitable went up in flames in March 1939. "The Nazis burned around 1000 paintings and works of plastic art as well as 4000 works on paper," says art-historian Andreas Hneke. For works that were classified as "internationally exploitable", however, a sales depot was set up in Niederschnhausen Palace in Berlin. Through art dealers, they were offered for sale abroad for foreign exchange. This "exploitation" officially ended on 30 June 1941. Translated by Stephen Krug.
©Berliner Morgenpost 1997 |