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Anna Caspari

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Anna Caspari
Born(1900-05-16)16 May 1900
Breslau, German Empire
Died25 November 1941(1941-11-25) (aged 41)
Kaunas, German-occupied Lithuania
NationalityGerman
Occupationart dealer
Known forHolocaust victim, restitution

Anna Caspari (16 May 1900 – 25 November 1941) was a German Jewish art dealer who was deported from Germany and murdered by the Nazis in Kaunas in 1941.

Early life

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Daughter of Hugo Naphtali of Breslau and Olga Naphtali (née Bielski), Anna Caspari studied art history in Munich and married the art dealer Georg Caspari.

Galerie Caspari

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On 20 June 1913, Georg Caspari opened a commercial art gallery in the Palais Eichthal on Brienner Straße 52 across from the Café Luitpold. He dealt in old masters and modern art, antiquities and drawings.[1]

Artworks included works by Rottenhammer and Maulbertsch old masters, 19th century works by Feuerbach, Böcklin, Leibl and Thoma as well as more modern works by Max Liebermann, Wilhelm Trübner, Max Slevogt, Edouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Vincent van Gogh. Artists ranges from locals like Maria Caspar-Filser and Oskar Coester to international stars like Paul Klee, Kokoschka, Lehmbruck, and Pablo Picasso. In the evening there were public readings by Wedekind, Heinrich Mann, Thomas Mann, Werfel.[2]

In 1930, Georg Caspari was killed in a car accident. Widowed, Anna had to look after the children Ernst (* 1926) and Paul (* 1922) alone. In 1935 the gallery was relocated to 6 Ottostraße.

Nazi looting and deportation

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On 19 January 1939, the Gestapo went to the "widowed Jewess" to "seize cultural property" under the guise of protecting it. Caspari's residence at the Hotel Continental and art warehouse on Briennerstraße 52 were ransacked and the Nazis looted 22 paintings, 140 books and numerous prints and drawings. The stolen art was then given as a "gift" to the Bavarian National Museum, the State Library and the State Graphic Collection .[3][4]

Before she was deported by the Nazis and murdered, Caspari managed to get her sons to safety in London. From 1938, she desperately tried to join her two sons, however her requests for permission to emigrate were repeatedly rejected by the German authorities.

On 20 November 1941, Anna Caspari was deported to Wehrmacht-occupied Lithuania during the first episodes of mass deportations of Jewish citizens from Munich. She was murdered on 25 November in Kaunas.[5] Her mother Olga Naphtali was deported to Theresienstadt.[6]

Restitution claims

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Many of Galerie Caspari's clients were Jewish, and like all Jews in Germany they were persecuted, their property Aryanized and their belongings including art collections were plundered during the Nazi era.[7] As a result, in addition to claims filed by Caspari's family, Caspari's clients have filed restitution claims for art looted or sold under duress in Nazi Germany.[8][9] One of the most famous cases involves the collection of Max Emden.[10]

Bibliography

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  • Stadtarchiv München, Biographisches Gedenkbuch der Münchner Juden, 1933–1945
  • Münchener Neue Secession, Graphische Ausstellung 1918, Frühjahr 1918, München 1918 Digitalisat
  • Stephan Kellner, Forschung nach NS-Raubgut an der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek, Ein Zwischenbericht, München 2008
  • Alexandra Lautenbacher, Raub jüdischer Kunstsammlungen – onesprime.de
  • Horst Keßler/Vanessa Voigt, Die Beschlagnahmung jüdischer Kunstsammlungen 1938/39 in München. In: Regine Dehmel (Hrsg.), NS-Raubgut in Museen, Bibliotheken und Archiven, Frankfurt am Main 2012, S. 119–132.
  • Lynn Rother: Kunst durch Kredit : Die Berliner Museen und ihre Erwerbungen von der Dresdner Bank 1935. Berlin : De Gruyter, 2017

References

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  1. ^ "Anna Caspari". www.bsb-muenchen.de. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  2. ^ Peters, Sebastian. "Die Galerie Caspari in München, 1913-1939. Netzwerke und Handlungsspielräume einer jüdischen Kunsthändlerin im Nationalsozialismus" (PDF). Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
  3. ^ "NS-Raubkunst beim SPK-Chef Parzinger? - Nazi-Looted Art in the Office of SPK Head Parzinger?". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Anna Caspari". www.bsb-muenchen.de. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2021. The raid executed by the Munich Gestapo headquarters at the turn of the year 1938/ 1939 touched the property of the art dealer Anna Caspari (1900 – 1941) among other Jewish families in Munich. During the campaign, nicknamed "safeguarding cultural assets", her then residence at the Hotel Continental as well as the warehouse on Briennerstraße 52 were ransacked on 19 January 1939. In total, 22 paintings, 140 books as well as an unspecified number of prints and drawings were stolen on the occasion.
  5. ^ "The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names – Annie Caspari". yvng.yadvashem.org. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Joint Press Release by the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz and Commission for Looted Art in Europe on 'Pariser Platz in Berlin' by Oskar Kokoschka". www.lootedartcommission.com. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  7. ^ "Parzinger und sein Bild - Parzinger and his painting". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  8. ^ Peters, Sebastian (2016). "Die Galerie Caspari in München, 1913-1939. Netzwerke und Handlungsspielräume einer jüdischen Kunsthändlerin im Nationalsozialismus. Master Thesis, Faculty of History and the Arts, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München". Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. doi:10.5282/ubm/epub.41213. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ^ "Joint Press Release by the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz and Commission for Looted Art in Europe on 'Pariser Platz in Berlin' by Oskar Kokoschka". www.lootedartcommission.com. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  10. ^ Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property. "Explanatory statement on the recommendation of the Advisory Commission in the case of Dr. Max James Emden vs. The Federal Republic of Germany" (PDF).
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