Moving objects

In a dark, densely packed cellar room of the Bremen Finance Authority lie historic items of furniture: two display cabinets, three chairs and a wastepaper basket. These objects bear traces such as stickers, stamps and chalk numbers, raising the suspicion that they do not belong here at all but may instead have come from auctions of household goods looted from Jewish victims of Nazi persecution. 

Today the seat of the Senator for Finance, the Haus des Reichs housed the Bremen tax offices during the National Socialist period: it was from there that the systematic expropriation of Jewish victims was organised and auctions were commissioned. The authority also retained objects for its own use. A letter from the head of the regional finance authority to the bailiff Rötsch dated 1942 concerning the auction of removal goods records that items suitable for use in the administration (“e.g. desks, bookcases […] armchairs, carpets and office machines”) were to be set aside prior to the auction.

In 2014 the finance authority critically addressed its role during National Socialism in the exhibition Ausplündern und Verwalten: Das Finanzamt Bremen stellt sich seiner NS-Vergangenheit [Looting and Administration: The Bremen Tax Office Confronts Its Nazi Past]. The exhibition sharpened awareness of possible Nazi-looted assets on the authority’s premises, and several items of furniture were noticed. 

Engaging with this subject can change the way objects are viewed and bring tacit knowledge to light. For example, one former employee came forward wishing to return a table he had once received through an internal redistribution of furniture, saying that it had originated from such a context. Another employee realised during a pre-exhibition event that her grandfather had spoken precisely of these auctions. The objects preserved in her family have since been shown on several occasions, and she has shared their story.

Often it was during removals that traces were revealed on the backs of items of furniture, thereby arousing suspicion. In 2013, during preparations for the exhibition, a cupboard attracted notice when it was standing on a trolley after an office move: its rear section bore various chalk marks and remnants of stickers, while a stamp identified it as the property of the Reich, belonging to ‘Finanzamt Ost’. This cupboard did not appear to be an item of typical functional office furniture, however, but resembled a piece of private property. Presented at the 2014 exhibition as an object of suspicion, it was subsequently stored in the cellar depot along with other items. As a museum educator and the curator responsible for the building’s history and archive up until 2024, Gundula Rentrop safeguarded these items of furniture, tirelessly advocating for engagement with them and with the history of the institution.

The objects have now been kept in the depot cellar for almost ten years, and it is still not known how many undiscovered items may yet be found in other rooms. Research into the stored items has not been carried out during this time: they have remained cases of suspicion with unresolved provenance. The question of how they should be handled is therefore all the more pressing: where do they belong and what should become of them?

In 2024 I had the opportunity to examine these items and their histories in greater detail for my master’s thesis. While the purchases made by other institutions are listed in the auction records preserved in the Bremen State Archive, it is still not clear how the retention of objects for use by the authority itself was documented. Such documents are not likely to have survived. A 1946 report issued by the then head of the Vermögensverwertungsstelle [Asset Recovery Office] to the American Allies records that, on instructions issued by the Reich Minister of Finance, all files concerning confiscated property had been destroyed at the office of the head of the regional finance authority of Weser-Ems before the end of the war.

Because written sources are lacking and the marks on the objects themselves are often only fragmentary, their provenance has not yet been conclusively established. Some items may have reached the building by other routes: a chair may have come from the inventory of the Nazi organisation Kraft durch Freude and a wastepaper basket could have come from the designers’ cooperative Vereinigte Werkstätten für Kunst im Handwerk, while two hall chairs may originally have belonged to the furnishings of a Norddeutscher Lloyd steamship. But the above-mentioned cupboard and also a second cupboard are thought to be items of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution. They have since been registered in the database Lost Art.

Quite apart from the fact that their origins remain unresolved, these items of furniture continue to raise questions and stimulate ongoing debate. They are incorporated in regular guided tours on the history of the building and are also featured in events, exhibitions and in press coverage. Since 2023, Evin Oettingshausen and Henning Bleyl have organised a commemorative cycle tour to sites of Nazi looting in Bremen (geraubt.de): this also includes a stop at the depot cellar of the finance authority. Time and again, in various situations, visitors have spoken up who have begun to see their family heritage in a new light and realised that it, too, might contain looted objects.

This shows the impact these items of furniture can have – through the histories they embody. They are the material remains of historical injury and injustice, and a past that has still not been sufficiently addressed. Eliciting emotions and responses, these day-to-day objects raise questions and can serve as starting points for conversations about injustice, remembrance and contemporary social responsibility. They are more than mute witnesses: they can be understood as actors that spark and shape debates.

The presence of Nazi-looted assets, whether visible or invisible, illustrates how deeply systematic expropriation penetrated society and how it still reverberates today. As this case clearly shows, looted objects are not only to be found in private households, at flea markets and in museums, but also in administrative buildings – the Bremen Finance Authority is hardly an isolated instance. The question remains: how can we engage with these objects and their histories in a way that does them justice?

Jana Schäfer studied at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Research at the University of Bremen. In 2024 she carried out research for her master’s thesis into presumed Nazi-looted assets in the Bremen Finance Authority and the role of objects in processes of remembrance.

Special thanks are due to the Bremen Finance Authority for making this research possible and to Gundula Rentrop for her invaluable support.

Literature:

• Balcar, Jaromír (ed.) (2014): Raub von Amts wegen: Zur Rolle der Verwaltung, Wirtschaft und Öffentlichkeit bei der Enteignung und Entschädigung der Juden in Bremen. Bremen: Edition Temmen
• Monopol Magazin (05 August 2024): Aufarbeitung in Bremen. Der schwierige Umgang mit NS-Raubgut
• Senator für Finanzen (ed.): “Haus des Reichs“. Von der Nordwolle zum Senator für Finanzen. Architektur und Geschichte eines Bremer Verwaltungsgebäudes. Bremen: H. M. Hauschild GmbH
• Senatorin für Finanzen (ed.) (2014): Ausstellung Ausplündern und Verwalten: das Finanzamt Bremen stellt sich seiner NS-Vergangenheit. Bremen: Self-published