Correspondence with Alma Mahler, 1955.

  1. Resources
  2. View Resource

ArchivalResource

Correspondence with Alma Mahler, 1955.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/155863391

Concerns Alma Mahler's legal claims raised in postwar Austria for the restitution of property that had fallen to the care of her half-sister Maria Eberstaller and her stepfather, Carl Moll, after she and Franz Werfel were forced to flee Austria in 1938. Alma appeals to Gürtler to review her case. He obtains the files from Otto Hein, the attorney who had originally handled in the case, and provides, in a densely-typed 5-page letter, a full account of the legal history; an enclosure of his letter is a typed transcript of court proceedings of Feb. 24, 1954, incuding the testimony of Wilhelm Legler and Bruno Grimschitz. Although Alma had apparently described the case to Gürtler as already lost, he determines that it is still ongoing in the courts and that he therefore cannot intervene. In a letter written on Alma's behalf, Otto Kallir responds to Gürtler, further arguing Alma's position and urging Gürtler to take the case after all; Kallir clarifies that the part of the proceedings concerning the painting by Edvard Munch ("Sommernacht am Strand"), the reacquisition of which he says is Alma's main concern, has in fact been settled in her disfavor, and that the continuing proceedings only concerned some of the paintings by Emil Jakob Schindler, which Alma would be willing to give to the Austrian state in a negotiated settlement if the Munch painting were returned to her. The folder also includes a carbon copy of a letter that Alma had apparently written to Ludwig Draxler several years earlier, in which she recounts the damage incurred by her house in Vienna (Steinfeldgasse 2, Hohe Warte) due to American bombing and occupation, and summarizes her legal efforts to obtain compensation. See related correspondence under: Hein, Otto and Frieberger, Kurt.

6 items (22 leaves).

University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6887560

University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library

Related Entities

There are 5 Entities related to this resource.

Gürtler, Hans.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6np9kx5 (person)

Gürtler was an attorney in Vienna. Kallir was an art dealer and a friend of Alma's, who wrote a letter to Gürtler on her behalf. Draxler was an attorney and had been minister of finance in Austria during the 1930s. Legler and Grimschitz were witnesses in court proceedings in Alma Mahler's case: Legler was a nephew of Alma Mahler; and Grimschitz was director of the Österreichischen Gallerie during the Nazi era. From the description of Correspondence with Alma Mahler, 1955. (Univers...

Legler, Wilhelm, 1902-1960.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kp83sk (person)

Wilhelm ("Willi") Legler was an architect in Vienna. He was Alma Mahler's nephew, the son of her half-sister Margarethe ("Gretl" or "Grete") Schindler (1880-1942) and the painter Wilhelm Legler (1875-1951), who were married in 1900. Hirsch was a director at S. Fischer Verlag. Petrik was a carpenter who refurbished antique furniture. Lauer was a restorer working under contract from Schiffswerft Korneuburg. Tlapek was an attorney in Vienna who was arranging for the appropriate return of documents ...

Draxler, Ludwig, 1896-1972.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vn1tjm (person)

Kallir, Otto, 1894-1978

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nk3gpg (person)

Otto Kallir (1894-1978) was an art collector and dealer who founded the Neue Gallerie in Vienna in 1923; he was forced to emigrate in 1938, leaving the operation of his gallery to the care of a colleague, and eventually settled in the U.S., where he opened the Galerie St. Etienne in New York City in 1939. Fanny Kallir (Franziska, Gräfin von Löwenstein-Scharffeneck) was Otto's wife; they were married in 1922. From the description of Correspondence to Alma Mahler, 1942-1958. (Univers...

Grimschitz, Bruno, 1892-1964

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b92qgr (person)