Haberstock, Karl, 1878-1956

Karl Haberstock (born 19 June 1878 in Augsburg; died 6 September 1956 in Munich) was a Berlin art dealer who was a member of the Degenerate Art Disposal Commission. Haberstock's name appears 60 times in the Art Looting Investigation Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index. Among Haberstock's many spoliation activities documented by the ALIU was the aryanization, with the assistance of Baron von Poellnitz and Roger Louis Adolphe Dequoy, of the Wildenstein firm which then continued to trade. According to historian Jonathan Petropoulos "Haberstock, despite selling works to Göring and other Nazi elite, owed his status to Hitler alone." At the end of World War II Haberstock was arrested for his Nazi art looting activities, however he testified against Hermann Göring at the Nuremberg Trials and was subsequently released. In the 1950s he opened a gallery in Munich living in the apartment below that of the director of Göring's art collection, Walter Andreas Hofer. Karl Haberstock came from an Augsburg banking family. After completing a banking apprenticeship at Gutmann Bank, in 1905 he opened a porcelain business with picture trading in Würzburg to sell his father's estate. In 1907 he then opened a gallery in Berlin. The business started rather slowly, but Haberstock was able to establish himself. During this time he mainly dealt with 19th century art. He sold large parts of Carl Schuch's estate. He also traded in paintings by Wilhelm Trübner, Wilhelm Leibl and Fritz von Uhde, among others. In the mid-1920s, Karl Haberstock shifted his focus to Old Masters. After the First World War and inflation, some important collections came on the market, such as those of Ernst Seeger and James Simon. Haberstock bought parts of these and invested his capital in safe real assets during the period of inflation. His customer base was considered conservative, right-wing and anti-Semitic. It is controversial to what extent he shared these positions. In addition to German paintings and old masters, Haberstock also dealt with French realists such as Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet. He hardly dealt with the new art movements because he didn't see any market potential for himself in this area. However, a hatred of Impressionism, which has often been accused, cannot be demonstrated. Karl Haberstock maintained close contact with important personalities of the art business such as Wilhelm von Bode in Berlin, Hans Posse in Dresden, Gustav Glück in Vienna and Gustav Pauli in Hamburg. He sold paintings to such renowned museums as the Nationalgalerie in Berlin or the Dresden State Art Collections. For Wilhelm von Bode's 80th birthday in 1926, Haberstock gave him a painting by Esaias van de Velde. In March 1933, Karl Haberstock joined the NSDAP. According to his own statements, he wanted to gain influence and thus be able to better tackle projects such as the auction law. As a result, he participated in the National Socialist art policy. In May 1936 Haberstock sold Paris Bordones Venus and Amor, a first work of art to Hitler, who had been planning to build an art collection since 1935. This purchase marked the beginning of his systematic collecting activity. Haberstock also examined Hitler's other acquisitions in the Führerbau in Munich and pointed out three counterfeits. Hitler also personally visited Haberstock's gallery space. In the course of the first sale to Hitler, Haberstock was also able to do business with other Nazi greats such as Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring and Albert Speer. Haberstock also used Hitler's influence to prevent a law from the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda. This would have empowered the Reich Chamber of Culture to set the prices for pictures, which, according to Haberstock, would have threatened the entire art trade. He also used his influence with Hitler to rehabilitate Hans Posse. As a result, he was employed as a special representative for the Linz Museum, probably even surprising for Haberstock. After 1939 Karl Haberstock was the main art dealer for the Linz Museum. There were other dealers closely associated with this project, but he sold 169 top-class works. Haberstock also used his influence with Hitler to intervene for the Jewish family of James Simon's granddaughter, with whose family he was in business contact in the 1920s. He also engaged for a few more persecuted. In May 1938 Haberstock was appointed to the Goebbels' commission for the “degenerate art”. He personally engaged with Hitler for the Fischer gallery in Lucerne, where the auction with confiscated works of art from the German museums finally took place on June 30, 1939. Haberstock did not have a direct profit from the auction, but his participation consolidated his position in the European art trade. Haberstock did not deal in modern art himself and referred Ferdinand Möller for an inquiry regarding the prices that could be paid for works by Emil Nolde. At the meeting of the recovery commission on February 20, 1939, Haberstock expressed concerns about the burning of “degenerate” works of art and on the same day asked Robert Scholz to release him from this order. Together with Scholz, he unsuccessfully suggested that the works be stored in museum depots in order to check their value again and later; Haberstock was therefore missing at the last sighting of the confiscated works. Together with Rolf Hetsch, Haberstock managed to save a large number of works, such as Franz Marc's Red Horses, from burning by selling them to private individuals and abroad. In addition, together with the other commissioners, he succeeded in returning some objects, including works by Franz Marc and early works by Lovis Corinth and Paula Modersohn-Becker, to the museums, doing so against Hitler's wish. A total of 88 paintings, 41 sculptures and 47 graphics were saved, of which Haberstock played a large part. In the case of the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich, Haberstock even outdid other commissioners. On the recommendation of a ministerial director, Karl Haberstock was sent to Vienna after Austria's annexation, in order to participate in the review and cataloging of the confiscated art collections. He arrived in May 1939 and agreed to make recommendations for the whereabouts of the works. However, Karl Haberstock refused to sell modern art from these collections. He came into conflict with the Viennese rulers, which is why he withdrew from this order. Hans Posse succeeded him. After the outbreak of World War II, Karl Haberstock operated in the areas occupied by the National Socialists. In order to work in occupied France, he needed some documents such as the special appointment as advisor to the director apponited for the Linz Museum, a letter from the Wehrmacht adjutant, a letter signed by Göring and a letter from the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces Defense Division in France. This secured his deliveries and trips. Haberstock's first visit to Paris took place together with Posse in October 1940. Among other things, he contributed to the aryanization of the Wildenstein Gallery, which became the property of Roger Dequoy. As part of this process, Haberstock met Georges Wildenstein in the unoccupied part of France. This meeting was probably not very friendly, but Wildenstein was also interested in an agreement that was advantageous for him. Dequoy entered into a business relationship with Haberstock and was the most active French dealer. Karl Haberstock maintained contact with a total of around 75 dealers and agents who tracked down and procured interesting works of art for him. For example, Dequoy and his business partner Georges Destem searched for Haberstock for the Schloss collection hidden by the Vichy government. In this search for hidden collections, Haberstock and his business partners competed with the task force of Reichsleiter Rosenberg. He also got in touch with refugees in the unoccupied part of France. So he acquired two works of art from his former Berlin colleague Arthur Goldschmidt. After Posse's death in December 1942, Haberstock's success fell significantly, as his successor Hermann Voss and he had been in conflict since the early 1920s. During Voss' tenure, there were only nine sales to the Chancellery. As a result of this conflict, Haberstock also left the NSDAP in December 1943, with which he fell out of favor with those in power. Karl Haberstock made a total of 188 sales to the Reich Chancellery for the planned museum in Linz, Hitler and other positions. In addition, there were 74 donations to important personalities and institutions. Towards the end of the Second World War, Haberstock fled with his wife to Gerhard Baron von Pöllnitz's castle in Aschbach, where he was arrested by the Americans. Hildebrand Gurlitt had also fled here. Haberstock was brought to Bad Aussee, where he was interrogated from August 20 to September 17, 1945. In the course of denazification, two cases were brought against Karl Haberstock. The first trial chamber in Ansbach classified Haberstock on July 12, 1949 as a follower, whose relationships with the leading figures of National Socialism would have been purely business. In the course of this procedure, Eberhard Hanfstaengl was also interviewed, who said that Haberstock was probably the most important German art dealer and had made his own judgment. He hated French art and had great influence on Hitler. Hanfstaengl also rated Karl Haberstock as an unscrupulous person. In the appeal process Haberstock was then classified as exonerated. Karl Haberstock was and is received controversially mainly because of his role during the Nazi era and his aftermath in Augsburg after the Second World War. Above all in depictions from the 1990s, a very negative picture of Haberstock is drawn. Lynn H. Nicholas described Karl Haberstock in her influential book The Robbery of Europe - The Fate of European Works of Art in the Third Reich as a greedy and criminally energetic art dealer in occupied France, and the historian Jonathan Petropoulos characterized him in this way and as a leading figure that influenced National Socialist art and cultural policy. Petropoulos also criticized that he himself had been denied access to the Haberstock archive in Augsburg. In the 2000s, the discussion about Karl Haberstock became more objective when the historian Horst Keßler was commissioned to view the archive holdings and published his results in the monograph Karl Haberstock - Controversial Art Dealer and Patron. Numerous works that Haberstock conveyed to museums during the National Socialist period are in the “Lost Art” database of the coordination center for loss of cultural property, since their withdrawal as a result of persecution could not be ruled out or clearly identified. The database contains eight works of art from the collection of the Karl and Magdalene Haberstock Foundation. After the war Haberstock continued to work as an art dealer. He and his wife appeared as patrons in Augsburg and therefore enjoyed a high reputation. [22] After his death in 1956, the widow continued this commitment. Haberstock's collection is open to the public as the Karl and Magdalene Haberstock Foundation in the Schaezlerpalais in Augsburg.