Cramer, Gustav, 1881-1961

Gustav Cramer (1881–1961) was the owner of the gallery G. Cramer Oude Kunst in The Hague in the Netherlands. He came from a family of Jewish art dealers in Kassel, Germany. After World War I, he moved to Berlin, where he worked at the renowned Van Diemen gallery, in charge of the Old Masters section, and in 1933, he opened his own gallery there. After being expelled from the Reichskammer der bildenden Künste (The Reich Chamber of Visual Arts) owing to anti-Semitic laws, he moved to the Netherlands and reopened the gallery in The Hague in 1938. With the occupation of the Netherlands in 1940, German authorities in The Hague advised Cramer to protect himself and his family from deportation by registering the gallery under the name of his son Hans Max Cramer, who, according to Nazi racial laws, was not considered Jewish. In Nazi terminology, the gallery was “aryanized. During the war years, Cramer was exempted from wearing the yellow star in exchange for facilitating business deals with agents acting on behalf of the Nazis. He served as a purchasing agent or mediator for Julius Böhler, Erhard Göpel, Karl Haberstock, Walter Andreas Hofer, Hans W. Lange, Hans Posse, and Heinz Steinmeyer, who are all known for their involvement in art sales for Hitler and other high-ranking Nazi officials. After the war, until his death in 1961, Gustav Cramer continued to manage the gallery G. Cramer Oude Kunst in The Hague in the Netherlands, engaging in trade with the leading art museums in Europe, United States, and Canada, numerous art dealers, auction houses, private clients, and renowned art historians.