Three
recent unconnected stories in the German press, have caught my eye:
A
certain 90-year-old Ferdinand Neess, a former art-dealer and collector, has
bequeathed his collection of over 500 Jugendstil objects, which he
collected over the years, to the Museum of Wiesbaden. The value of the donation
is estimated to be higher than €40 million.
A
certain James Simon (1851-1932) is being remembered and celebrated by Berlin,
by naming the newly created visitors’ centre and central entrance building to the
city’s museum cluster at the Museums Insel after him. James Simon, a
German Jew – who was fortunate enough to die before the Nazis came to power – stems
from a family of wealthy cotton merchants. For years, he donated a third of his
income for social and cultural projects. Over the years, Simon – who is considered
to be the most prominent patron of the arts at his time, donated most of his important
art collection to Berlin’s museums (including the well-known bust of Nefertiti).
A
certain Georg Friedrich, Prinz von Preussen, the great grandson of Germany’s last
Kaiser, claims the “return” of several castles, which were nationalised, as well
as thousands of art objects from the German state. A return of the objects the
family now demands would empty some of Berlin’s museums. This is quite amazing,
considering that everything monarchs own, is accumulated through taxation of
the general population. Instead of asking the question, how the monarchs were
able to amass such fortunes, the state is negotiating with the family.
It
appears that the only (yet unlikely) hope under German legislation is proving
that the family supported Hitler. A historically sounder case would be to show
the Kaiser’s responsibility for the catastrophe that befell Germany and Europe,
in World War I. Why should his heirs retain their assets, whilst millions have
lost all they had during and because of that war?
Don’t
let us forget who fills our museums and who is trying to empty them.
Danke David,
ReplyDeleteDu hast nicht erwähnt, dass Wilhem II mit 59 (!) Güterwaggons voll privaten Eigentums ins niederländische Exil entlassen wurde. Die Forderungen seines Nachkommen sind eine bodenlose Frechheit. Natürlich hat er nicht mehr alle kaiserlichen Tassen im Schrank! Man kann nur hoffen, dass es sich um geistige Verwirrung oder höchste Verzweiflung handelt, sonst müsste man diesem Herrn ein Stahlgewitter in den öffentlichen und sozialen Medien wünschen, das ihm die nicht vorhandene Krone endgültig vom und aus dem Kopf fegt.
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