City of Cologne restitutes two Baroque candle tables

The City of Cologne is restituting a pair of Baroque candle tables from the property of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln (MAKK) to the heirs of Emma Rosenthal. The two tables will remain in the MAKK after restitution, having been reacquired by the City of Cologne.

30. May 2023

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German Lost Art Foundation

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39112 Magdeburg

Germany
Phone:  +49 (0) 391 727 763 0
E-mail:  kontakt@kulturgutverluste.de
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German Lost Art Foundation Berlin Branch Office

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10117 Berlin

Berlin
Phone: +49 (0) 391 727 763 0
E-mail: kontakt@kulturgutverluste.de

The Help Desk offers advice and assistance to victims of the Nazi regime and their descendants on questions relating to Nazi theft of cultural property. Serving as a central and initial low-threshold point of contact in Germany, it is aimed in particular at people whose place of residence is outside Germany and who are unfamiliar with German procedures, especially in connection with cultural federalism. The Help Desk seeks to provide support in taking initial steps as well as providing further contacts and information. We will also be happy to help initiate discussions with museums and other institutions.

German Lost Art Foundation, Branch Office
Dr. Susanne Meyer-Abich
Head of Help Desk

Seydelstr. 18
10117 Berlin

Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 391 727 763 0
E-mail: helpdesk@kulturgutverluste.de

Research carried out at the MAKK as part of the project funded by the German Lost Art Foundation and with the support of the Munich Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (Central Institute for Art History) revealed that the two candle tables had been part of the interior furnishings of the Munich home of Jacques and Emma Rosenthal’s family from at least the 1920s onwards. The widely ramified Rosenthal family ran an internationally successful antiquarian bookshop for several generations.

After the National Socialists took power, the family was subjected to persecution because of their Jewish origins, resulting in some family members emigrating abroad. In August 1935, the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts demanded the dissolution of the antiquarian bookshop. As a result of the decline and forced liquidation of the business, the Rosenthal family had to sell their house along with items of furniture, including the two candle tables. What was then the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Cologne (today: MAKK) acquired the two tables from the art dealership Böhler in 1939.

In view of this historical background, the museum and the City of Cologne recognised the heirs’ request for restitution as being justified. The heirs of Emma Rosenthal and the City of Cologne agreed on payment of a compensation.

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