Investigation and evaluation of the acquisition of Galerie Flechtheim, Düsseldorf, by Alexander Vömel in March 1933

The research-backed assessment of the takeover of Galerie Alfred Flechtheim, Düsseldorf, by Flechtheims longstanding employee Alexander Vömel in March 1933 is of particular importance for the context of each provenance investigation into masterpieces that were said to have previously been in Alfred Flechtheims collection or in his gallery. It is especially relevant with regard to drawing conclusions for possible restitutions. In a specific case, clarification of this question was critical for the Kunstmuseum Bonn as the basis for a decision on a restitution claim asserted in September 2009 by the heirs of Alfred Flechtheim regarding the painting Leuchtturm mit rotierenden Strahlen (Lighthouse with Rotating Beam) (1913) by Paul Adolf Seehaus.

Using funding from the Bureau for Provenance Research in Berlin, the Kunstmuseum Bonn commissioned Dr. Axel Drecoll, researcher at the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich and head of the Dokumentation Obersalzberg, to produce an expert report on the evaluation of the gallery takeover from a historic and economic perspective.

Art dealer Alfred Flechtheim and Alexander Vömel, the manager of his Düsseldorf gallery Alfred Flechtheim GmbH whom Flechtheim had employed in February 1927, were joint partners in a limited liability company. The gallery holdings were therefore subject to special conditions which had to be taken into account when Vömel took over the gallery, which had previously closed, at the end of March 1933. The aim of the expert report was to clarify whether the transfer of the business should be classed as aryanizationthe takeover of Jewish-owned businesses by non-Jews during the National Socialist regime in Germany. It also aimed to determine whether Flechtheims loss of masterpieces, which were still located in the Düsseldorf gallery after the takeover, should therefore be considered confiscated or lost as a result of Nazi persecution.

Following the takeover of the Düsseldorf gallery, the Berlin branch of the Flechtheim Galerien GmbH was closed down in a process commonly described as liquidation. This was undertaken on behalf of Flechtheim by the auditor A. Schulte. A wide range of information is available about this procedure.

Ultimately, Axel Drecoll concludes that the transfer of the gallery from Flechtheim to Vömel cannot be described as aryanization and Vömel is not an aryanizer of the gallerys entire painting collection in a historical sense because Flechtheim was involved in the liquidation of Galerie Flechtheim. However, Vömel certainly benefited from the takeover. Drecoll also leaves no doubt about the fact that Alfred Flechtheims economic existence in Germany should fundamentally be regarded as having been affected by persecution. Therefore, despite the distinction in the business relationship between Flechtheim and Vömel, an individual assessment must continue to be implemented for all relevant paintings, including the painting by Paul Adolf Seehaus, to establish whether they were confiscated as a result of persecution.

(c) Kunstmuseum Bonn