Dosquet collection

The collection owned by the Berlin medical consultant Dr. Wilhelm Dosquet was well known in art circles when it was auctioned off in 1941. Photographer Waldemar Titzenthaler had taken photos of the collectors apartment in Niederschönhausen, Berlin, and these had been published in the journal Die Dame in 1925. He showed the living rooms furnished with valuable objects, including works from the 18th and 19th centuries: furniture, porcelain, paintings and Gobelin tapestries. Wilhelm Dosquet was considered an art connoisseur. He was a member of the Schlossmuseums expert advisory board until 1933. The relationship between collector and institution had been very close for many years as he had loaned a number of objects to the Schlossmuseum. These included spectacular individual pieces such as the folding bureau which was later put up for sale at Hans W. Lange auction house, lot 115.

The collector did not live to see the auction of his collection. He died in 1938 at the age of 78. His widow, Antonie Dosquet, inherited his entire estate and was the owner of the collection at the time of the auction. She died in 1945. After the war, the couples daughter Marie-Theres Thiedig filed compensation claims and then reparation claims in 1948. However, Ms. Thiedigs claims were rejected because the home and workplace were in the territory which later became the GDR, the family remained in the same location after 1933 and the whereabouts of the art collection were not verifiable. The case was reviewed in 1997 by the Jewish Claims Conference and once again dropped because this organizations aim and purpose specifically relate to Jewish assets and the claimant is not Jewish. With the Washington Principles of 1998 and the Joint Declaration drawn up for the Federal Republic of Germany, which applies to the whole territory of the Federal Republic of Germany and also the acceding territory of the GDR together with East Berlin, the legal starting situation has changed and it is now necessary to reexamine whether the Dosquet collection was confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution.

(c) Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin