HESS HEIRS COMMEND BERLIN FOR RETURNING KIRCHNER PAINTING
January 19, 2007
Kirchner painting "Berlin Street Scene" to the heirs of Alfred and Tekla HNew York, NY - - August 18, 2006 - - The City of Berlin recently returned the Ernst Ludwig ess. Kirchner painting "Berlin Street Scene" to the heirs of Alfred and Tekla HNew York, NY - - August 18, 2006 - - The City of Berlin recently returned the Ernst Ludwig ess. The painting, created in 1913, was lost by the Hess family during the Nazi era in Germany due to Nazi persecution.

Alfred Hess was a Jewish businessman who lived with his wife, Tekla and son, Hans, in Erfurt, Germany. He owned a important shoe manufacturing business and owned a villa in Erfurt. With the profits from his business, he and his wife supported the local art museum, Angermuseum, and supported many German expressionistic artists, including many from the Brücke art movement, such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Pechstein, Nolde, Klee, Kandinsky, Marc, Chagall, Feininger and many more. The Hess family supported their art and frequently invited the artists to stay at their home, which became a meeting place for expressionist artists. They had one of the most comprehensive collections of German expressionistic art prior to the Nazi period. The collection consisted of approximately 4,000 works of art, including about 80 paintings by the premier artists of the expressionistic period in Germany.

Alfred Hess died in late 1931. Following the rise of Hitler in 1933, the Hess family was eventually forced to leave Germany. Hans Hess lost his job at the Ullstein publishing house in Berlin when the firm fired its Jewish employees in 1933 after Hitler came to power. Hans Hess was thus forced into exile and lived in Paris and then later London. He later he was interned in Canada during most of WWII. After her son left Germany due to Nazi persecution, Tekla Hess first tried to stay in Germany and moved to Bavaria in order to be with relatives. However, while staying with her relatives, she was visited by Gestapo agents who questioned her regarding the whereabouts of the Hess collection and threatened to take actions against her relatives if the collection was not returned to Germany. In an affidavit signed by Tekla Hess on April 1, 1958, she stated the following:

"In 1936 during the late evening hours two agents of the secret police from Nuremberg, coereced me under threat to have the pictures in the Hess collection being kept at the time at "Kunsthaus (Gallery) Zurich" returned to Germany immediately. Even though I understood fully that this threat could result in the complete loss of the entire collection, I had no choice other then to give into the pressure being exerted by this all-powerful agency of the government in the hope that my own life and that of my family would not be further jeopardized."

In the then current climate in Germany a visit from the Gestapo often meant deportation to concentration camps and probable death. Responding to these threats, Tekla Hess requested the return of the collection to Germany, although she knew this would probably be the end of it.

Having been threatened by the Gestapo, Tekla Hess made preparations to leave Germany. In the course of her leaving Germany, the collection was scattered about. Having been left behind in various locations and with various persons, most of the collection was either lost or sold for a mere pittance of its value. At the time, Germany also had strict monetary controls,
which effectively prevented Jewish exiles from tranferring funds outside of Germany and which penalized those who did so with the death penalty.

In an interview with the German Embassy in London on January 12, 1961, Hans Hess discussed the events leading to the loss of the collection. This was set down in a protocal dated January 19, 1961. An excerpt from the protocal sets forth the following:

"As sole heir of his father, Mr. (Hans) Hess inherited one of the largest German art collections devoted to modern masters. Upon his emigration in June 1933, he had to leave the collection behind. It was thereafter held by his mother and brought to an art exhibition in Zurich. The collection was to remain in Zurich. However, the Gestapo threatened Mrs. Hess to have the collection returned to Germany. To maintain her subsistence she had to divest individual pieces of the collection underhandedly at unfavorable prices. When in November 1938 Mrs. Hess also emigrated there was no one left in the Hess family to take care of the collection. When Mrs. Hess left, she was able to take a few works from the collection. Part of the collection remained in Lichtenfels, the last residence of Mrs. Hess in Germany. Other parts which had earlier been placed with well-known art dealers were retained by them. Seven larger works were stored in the Dilborn Castle. It is likely that these works were either appropriated by occupation troops or destroyed. The collection, considered to have special value due to its complete coverage of a certain German creative artistic period, was scattered and dissolved as a result of the aforementioned events. After the war only a few works reemerged. It has yet to be clarified what happened to most of the works."

Thus, the Hess collection, once considered one of the most valuable expressionist art collections in Germany, became a victim of the Nazi period. Even today, large portions of the Hess collection are still missing and have not been accounted for. The loss of the collection to the Hess family has been immeasurable.

After WWII, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Hans Hess filed claims as a Nazi persecutee for the loss of his profession in Germany and for the loss of the Hess art collection. In these proceedings he was found to be a Nazi persecutee and was awarded damages for the loss of his profession and for the loss of the Hess art collection. For the loss of the Hess art collection, even though the collection was valued at about one million German Marks, he was awarded 75,000 German Marks, a mere fraction of the collection's worth, but the largest amount which could be awarded at that time.

With the return of "Berlin Street Scene" by Kirchner, the Hess family is pleased that they have now been able to obtain back a small part of their collection. They commend the City of Berlin for its courage in making a principled and correct decision to return a clearly valuable painting to its rightful owners. This can and should be an example to all museums that Jewish art lost in the Nazi era due to Nazi persecution should be returned to their rightful owners.

The City of Berlin correctly determined that the Kirchner painting was lost due to Nazi persecution and should be commended for its actions in this matter. The decision to return the painting was correctly made in accordance with German restitution law, in accordance with the principles of the Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets, and in accordance with the decision in the 1960's damages proceeding brought by Hans Hess after WWII. With respect to the correctness of the decision to return the painting, both the Hess heirs and the City of Berlin were in full agreement that the case was meritorious and that restitution was justified.
In returning the Kirchner painting to its rightful owners, Berlin has done the right thing. It has taken a big step which proves its status and reputation as a world leading capital city which stands for fairness and justice in redressing the wrongs of the past.
As to recent articles which have appeared questioning the amount of research done in reaching the determination that the painting was lost due to Nazi persecution, the matter was thoroughly researched and all relevent archives were consulted, including the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archiv in Bern, which issued a letter in 2004 stating that it had no relevant information. Similarly, incorrect statements have also recently appeared alledging that the sale of the paintings was caused by the bankruptcy of the Hess shoe factory in 1929. However, in fact, the Hess shoe factory did not go bankrupt in 1929, but was "aryanized" after 1933. The Jewish Claims Conference (JCC) filed a claim for the loss of the Hess shoe factory under current restitution laws which has not yet been decided. In addition, other Hess real property in Erfurt has also been determined in a recent claims decision to have been lost due to Nazi persecution and the JCC was awarded the return of this Hess real property.

Although the Kirchner painting "Berlin Street Scene" has been consigned to an auction house for sale, nothing would make the Hess heirs happier than to see the City of Berlin reacquire the painting. The Hess heirs and the City of Berlin tried during the long course of their negotiations to reach an agreement to keep the painting in Berlin, however they were not able to do so due to financial constraints.

As representatives of the Hess family in this matter, together with local counsel, we wish to express our thanks to the City of Berlin for making the correct decision to return the painting.

David J. Rowland Peter Schink
Rowland & Associates Schink & Studzinski


New York, New York
August 18, 2006


For further information contact:

David J. Rowland, Esq.
Rowland & Associates
Two Park Ave., 19th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10016

Tel. 212-685-5509
Fax. 212-685-8862

Email: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Website: http://www.rowlandlaw.com

Or in Europe contact:

RA Peter Schink
Schink & Studzinski
Ostseestr. 109
10409 Berlin
Germany

Tel. 011-49-30-42851177
Fax. 011-49-30-42851178

Website: http://www.schink-studzinski.de

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About the Press Release
Kirchner painting "Berlin Street Scene" to the heirs of Alfred and Tekla HNew York, NY - - August 18, 2006 - - The City of Berlin recently returned the Ernst Ludwig ess.


 
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