Helga Kreuter-Eggemann, née Helga Eggemann (1914 - 16 February 1970), was a German art historian involved in looting art in France during the Nazi occupation.

Life

Helga Eggemann studied art history and received her doctorate from the University of Berlin in 1941. From 1941 to 1944 she worked for the Nazi looting organisation the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce (ERR) in France.[1] During this time she was the lover of the business lawyer Alexander Kreuter,[2] whom she later married. She lived in Munich and owned a collection of Gothic manuscripts, graphics from French impressionism and art nouveau arts and crafts.

In 1946 the OSS Art Looting Intelligence Unit investigated Eggemann for her involvement in the Nazi looted art trade and placed her on the Red Flag list.[3]

In 2013, historians tracing the history of a Matisse that had been stolen by Nazis from the art collector Paul Rosenberg found that Eggemann had been involved in processing it at the Jeu de Paume museums where art looted from Jews was collected.[4]

Other studies have found that Eggemann was not only involved in but organized the plunder of French Jewish collectors.[5]

Eggemann was also involved in the looting from Raoul Meyer the Camille Pissarro entitled Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep (“La bergère rentrant des moutons”)[6] and the Schwob d'Héricourt collection[7] among others.

According to the French government's Database of Art Objects at the Jeu de Paume (Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg) dozens of artworks looted from private Jewish collectors in France were inventoried by Eggemann for the Nazis.[8]

Writings

  • Jacquemart de Hesdin und die Buchmacher am Hofe König Karls V. und des Herzogs von Berry. Berlin 1941 (= Dissertation)
  • Evangelium im Bild. Worte aus den Evangelien und ihre Darstellung in der Kunst. Kösel, München 1954
  • Das Skizzenbuch des „Jaques Daliwe“. Bruckmann, München 1964

Literature

  • Sammeln und Bewahren. Beiträge zur Kunst, Literatur und Buchgeschichte. Wölfle, München 1973, S. 28. 29 (Bild). 217
  • Kunstwissenschaft insbesondere Buchmalerei und Mittelalter aus der Bibliothek Dr. Helga Kreuter-Eggemann und anderem Besitz. Wölfle, München 1978
  • Jakob Kurz: Kunstraub in Europa 1938–1945. Facta Oblita Verlag, Hamburg 1989, S. 204–205
  • Jonathan Petropoulos: The Faustian bargain. The art world in Nazi Germany. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2000, S. 333
  • A qui appartenaient ces tableaux? La politique française de recherche de provenance, de garde et de restitution des oeuvres d’art pillées durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale / Looking for owners. French policy for provenance research, restitution and custody of art stolen in France during World War Two. Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris 2008, S. 13

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Post-War Reports: Activity of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg in France: C.I.R. No.1 15 August 1945 (a transcribed fully searchable text of the Report)". www.lootedart.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-13. Retrieved 2021-05-12. ROSSKAMP was under house arrest at Kogl in July 1945. EGGEMANN Fräulein Dr. Helga EGGEMANN, research assistant on the Paris art staff and storm center of personal intrigue within the organisation. Fräulein EGGEMANN was a bitter enemy of Annemarie von TOMFORDE, and was dismissed by von INGRAM for this reason (see Chapter II (c)). Reinstated because of her influence in high Party circles, she caused a sharp cleavage between BORCHERS, LOHSE and the von INGRAMS. Fräulein EGGEMANN was the mistress of the influential German industrialist, Geheimrat KREUTER, who had been a close business associate of Dr.AMMANN of the Eherverlag (the official National Socialist Publishing house), by whom SCHOLZ had been employed. She was stated to have left Paris on 18 August 1944 with KREUTER and to have gone to Nancy. Several informants believed that, through KREUTER, she might have obtained a position with the German legation in Switzerland.
  2. ↑ "Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2021-05-12. Kreuter, Dr A. German financial counsellor in France, reported to have been involved in transfer to Germany of a Titian. A friend of Frl Eggemann of the ERR
  3. ↑ "Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2021-05-12. Eggemann, Frl Dr Helga. In Switzerland (?). Member of ERR, Paris.
  4. ↑ "Tribulations d'un Matisse". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2013-05-01. Archived from the original on 2013-06-06. Retrieved 2021-05-12. Emmanuelle Polack poursuit : "J'y ai trouvé la fiche soigneusement remplie d'une toile où tout correspond à celle de Matisse. Seul le titre est différent, Frau am Kamin – Femme à la cheminée. Mais aucun doute n'est permis : un cliché de la toile en noir et blanc est là et même une image du dos de la photo, estampillé ERR, avec le titre allemand et le numéro d'inventaire, PR 28. Or, "PR" signifie "Paul Rosenberg". La fiche est établie le 5 septembre 1941 par Helga Eggemann et Anne-Marie Tomförde, deux employées de l'ERR au Jeu de paume."
  5. ↑ Poulain, Martine (2016-12-31). "Collections et bibliothèques d'art spoliées par les nazis, deux pertes irréparables". Perspective. Actualité en histoire de l'art (in French) (2): 153–160. doi:10.4000/perspective.6905. ISSN 1777-7852. Trois autres spoliations, les 8 juillet, 4 et 20 août 1941, sont effectuées cette fois par les services de l'Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg5 d'Alfred Rosenberg et dirigées par deux historiens de l'art, les Dr Eggemann et M. Fleischer (Rose Valland a vu passer certaines de ces œuvres au Jeu de Paume6). Ce butin est entreposé pour la plus grande part en Bavière, au dépôt de Buxheim (Lager BU) de l'ERR7.
  6. ↑ "SDNY Amended Complaint-Meyer-01-10-2014" (PDF). 37. La Bergère entered the Jeu de Paume shortly after the February 1941 seizure, where the ERR assigned it the code "Meyer 13." 38. On July 12, 1942, Dr. Eggemann, an ERR specialist at the Jeu de Paume, worked on the Meyer inventory. Her colleague, Ms. Tomforde, completed the evaluation of the works on July 18, 1942. The ERR's Meyer inventory consisted of 13 works of art, listed as the property of "Frau Raoul Meyer." Of the 13 works, 9 paintings were designated for future exchanges against works that Nazi dignitaries found more desirable, especially European Old Masters.
  7. ↑ "Deux femmes nues". www.pop.culture.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 2021-05-12. e tableau de Foujita est volé par les services de l'ERR le 6 février 1943 au domicile de M. et Mme James Schwob d'Héricourt, 47 boulevard Beauséjour à Paris ; ce dernier avait quitté les lieux pour rejoindre la France Libre à Londres ; la résidence est alors occupée par Mme Sabine Javal, épouse de Marcel Schwob d'Héricourt, fils de M. et Mme James Schwob d'Héricourt (1). Les documents de l'ERR mentionnent : "Sammlung Swob (sic) d'Héricourt (SHD) (...) 2 items, (...) Paris, 47 Bd. Beauséjour ". Les oeuvres sont transférées au Jeu de Paume et inventoriées le 6 avril 1943 par le Dr. Eggemann/He. : " Inv. - Nr. : 1, Meister - Zeit : Foujita 1921 ; Gegenstand-Beschreibung : Zwei nackte Frauen. Die eine sitzend auf einem mit hellgrünen Tuch bedeckten Hocker, aufschauend zu der neben ihr stehenden, vor sich hinsinnenden Frau. Feder-und Pinselzeichnung auf weissem Wachsgrung auf Lwd. - Signiert : Foujita 1921 - Gerahmt. - 176 x 94" (2).
  8. ↑ "Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg: Database of Art Objects at the Jeu de Paume".
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