Dark moments at the Ischler Salzberg: art objects salvage 1944/45
Franz Juraschek, the regional conservator responsible for the Upper Danube and later the provincial conservator for Upper Austria during World War II, suggested the Ischler Salzberg as well as Aussee as a salvage site for endangered art treasures.
Juraschek and Hans Dellbrügge, District President in Vienna, turned to the Erbstollen near Bad Ischl, particularly after the Aussee salt mine had become the “ Reich’s salvage site ” and especially for objects in the “ Fuhrer Museum” in Linz.
Kaiser Franz Josef – Erbstollen, transport of art, 1944, archive Salinen Austria
Kunstgütertransport, 1944, Archiv Salinen Austria
2. Einlagerungsorte:
Für die Einlagerungen waren vorhandene und neue Bergungsräume im Erbstollen und im I. und II. Blindhorizont vorgesehen.
Der I. und II. Blindhorizont wurden über den Distler Schacht vom Erbstollen und von Perneck, vom Leopoldstollen, erreicht. Aufgrund der leichteren Anlieferung zum Erbstollen wurden alle Einlagerungen über diesen durchgeführt.
Im I. Blindhorizont wurde das Werk XII mit 1100 Quadratmeter für Einlagerungen freigegeben.
Plan Bergung: I. Blindhorizont 1944, Bundesarchiv Deutschland
Ein neuer Lagerraum wurde für Einlagerungen im Erbstollen bei Streckenmeter 250 ausgesprengt. Dieser war aber nicht durchlüftet und nicht im Salzstock angelegt und deshalb feucht! Dieser wäre für großformatige Einlagerungen des Sonderstabes Rosenberg, Führersammlung, vorgesehen gewesen.
Reimer, Sonderbeauftragter Hitlers, verzichtete aber danach auf diese Räume und ermöglichte somit die Einlagerung der Wiener Sammlungen.
Außerdem wurde das Sprengmitteldepot bei Streckenmeter 500 geräumt und für Einlagerungen freigegeben.
Plan Bergung: Neue Bergungsräume und frühere Sprengmitteldepot im Erbstollen 1944, Bundesarchiv Deutschland
Im II. Blindhorizont wurde der sogenannte Bahnhof, der zum Verschub der Grubenbahn diente, für die Bergung vorbereitet. Ein vom I. zum II. Blindhorizont führender Schurf, wurde später verschüttet, damit niemand ungebeten die Lagerräume erreichen konnte. Anfang 1945 war der „Bahnhof“ so verkleidet, dass nur ein Gleis frei blieb. Der übrige Raum war für die Lagerung von Gemälden vorgesehen. Er wurde an beiden Enden mit schweren hölzernen Bohlentüren verschlossen. Das machte den Eingang absolut sicher. Nur die Lüftungsrohre blieben frei.
Plan Bergung: II. Blindhorizont 1944, Bundesarchiv Deutschland
Salvage plan, 1944 Archive Salinen Austria
Shaft machine Distlerschacht: All art objects were made with it transported to the second blind horizon, 1940 Archive Salinen Austria
In der Endphase des Krieges wurden auch Lagerbereiche in der Ischler Saline verwendet: Zum Beispiel wurden am 27.3.1945 Bilder von Cassone aus der Sammlung Lanzkoronski hier eingelagert.
Zur Vorgeschichte der Sammlung Lanzkoronski:
Das Vermögen und auch die hochbedeutende Kunstsammlung des polnischen Staatsangehörigen Anton Lanzkoronski wurde unter Berufung auf eine “Verordnung über Behandlung von Vermögen der Angehörigen des ehemaligen polnischen Staates” beschlagnahmt und vom zuständigen Staatskommissar in Wien übernommen.
Im ehemaligen Hotel Grüner Baum, Bad Ischl, wurden zu Kriegsende Kunstgüter aus Altausse eingelagert, um der befürchteten Zerstörung zu entgehen.
Ein anderes Lager war die Villa Castiglioni am Grundlsee: hier wurde ein Teil der Bibliothek Hitlers eingelagert.
Schloss Kogl bei Attersee war ein Lagerort für Kunstgüter, die Alfred Rosenberg für sich selbst reserviert hatte.
From November 1944 it was decided to store the Viennese art collections and the Lichtenstein picture gallery in the Ischler Salzberg . The daily reports from Lauffen began on December 9, 1944 with the arrival of the restorers Josef Hajsinek from Vienna and Franz Sochor from Kremsmünster. The first transport arrived in Lauffen on December 12, 1944. Almost all Viennese collections relocated salvaged goods to Lauffen.
Gert Adriani was appointed head of the salvage. But after a fatal mishap, he was replaced by Viktor Luithlen , head of the collection of ancient musical instruments. This remained so until the end of the repatriation in 1947.
Gert Adriani, KHM Museum Association
Viktor Luithlen , KHM Museum Association
Storage of the art objects 1944/45:
Kaiser Franz Josef – Erbstollen, Kunstgütertransport, 1944/45, Archiv Alois Lackner, Lauffen
Kaiser Franz Josef – Erbstollen, Kunstgütertransport, 1944/45, Archiv Alois Lackner, Lauffen
Kaiser Franz Josef – Erbstollen, art goods transport, 1944/45, archive Salinen Austria
Kaiser Franz Josef – Erbstollen, Kunstgütertransport, 1944/45, Archiv Alois Lackner, Lauffen
Kunstgutdepot 2. Blindhorizont, 1986, Katharina Hammer Shine in the dark
Valuable holdings from spiritual possessions were now also stored in the Ischler Erbstollen instead of in the Ausseer Salzberg. One transport after the other arrived from Vienna. Treasures came from almost all state collections: there were 150 boxes from the national library with manuscripts and printed works, each individual page of which is a treasure. Holdings from the Natural History Museum, the Ethnological Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts, the Art History Museum, the Liechtenstein Gallery and the Graz State Archives were delivered.
Pictures by such important artists as Rembrandt, Raffael, Brueghel, Albrecht Dürer, Jan van Eyck, Rubens and also by "modern" painters such as Munch, Monet, Klimt and Kokoschka were stored in Ischl. In addition, the gold treasure finds, ivories, vases, jewelery and statuettes from the antique collections.
A small selection of the priceless art objects stored in the Ischler Salzberg:
Tower of Babel
Pieter Bruegel the Elder , 1563
Venus of Willendorf, around 30,000 years old
peasant dance
Pieter Bruegel the Elder , 1525/30
Requiem in D minor ( KV 626) from 1791 is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's last composition
Madonna in the green
Raphael Santi , 1505-1506
Tassilo chalice from the year 777
The “Tassilokelch” from Kremsmünster Abbey also had a special situation:
Officially it was housed in the Aussee salvage, but after this became the official salvage location for Hitler in 1943, it was secretly stored in the Ischler Salzberg by district conservator Franz Juraschek.
On April 18, 1945, a crisis team met in the general management of the saltworks to discuss the measures that were necessary to save the Ischler salvage from having to store a bomb like the one in Aussee.
According to this plan, the salvage should be made completely inaccessible. The "filling point" of the Distler shaft in the Erbstollen should be completely filled up with rock, "collapsed". The elevator is to be pulled up to the ceiling of the Leopold horizon, i.e. to its highest point, and shut down there. The stairs that lead up next to the elevator, the so-called "rides", are to be torn out below and above the I. and II. underground constructions and the burial of the pit between the I. and II. underground constructions is to be strengthened. This work was completed by May 5, 1945.
In the meantime, the situation in Ischl / Lauffen has also deteriorated dramatically. Between April 20 and 25, 1945, a total of 928 pictures of various origins from Kartause Gaming (Lower Austria) arrived here. On the orders of Hermann Stuppäck (General Cultural Officer of the Reich Governor Baldur von Schirach) in Gaming, the paintings had been thrown in a hurry "without any consideration and without the slightest care". Due to the "barbaric" nature of the transport, numerous paintings "were perforated, torn off, damp or otherwise damaged in Bad Ischl/Lauffen. But that was not all, Stuppäck arrived in Bad Ischl on April 25 with orders from Schirach to move the salvaged goods kept in Lauffen further west without delay. At first Luithlen successfully resisted the order, but the arrival of officers and soldiers from the "Fabian Combat Unit" from the SS Panzer Division "Großdeutschland" on the evening of May 1st made any further delay impossible. Captain Reinhardt and Lieutenant Kahles would not be put off.
Bergrat Lepez refused the SS commander to provide the mine locomotive, the winding machine and the miners on the pretext that there was no corresponding clear written order from the Waffen SS command. Under threat of the use of weapons, the captain drove furiously to Gmunden to obtain the necessary powers of attorney. This saved valuable time again.
On May 3rd, however, the 184 paintings desired by Schirach and Stuppäck - including all paintings by Rembrandt, P. Bruegel the Elder, had to be handed over. Ä., Titians and Velazquez, 49 tapestry sacks and two crates are loaded onto trucks.
It turned out that a whole series of the main pieces from the Viennese picture gallery were to be kidnapped in this way. Among them were Bruegel's "Peasant Wedding" and "Peasant Fair", "Carnival Games", "Tower of Babel", "Homecoming of the Herd", "Storm at Sea", "Bird Thief" and "Pauli's Conversion", 6 Velasquez -Pictures, 7 Titians, including the cherries and the Gypsy Madonna, as well as the portrait of Jacopo della Strada, the two well-known self-portraits and the reading Titus by Rembrandt, and finally the "All Saints' Day" and "Emperor Maximilian" by Dürer. So you can safely say, not only the most valuable, but also a number of the most popular pictures in their gallery.
You worked late into the night. The marching orders were given on May 4th. At 4 a.m. the convoy with the restorers Hajsinek and Sochor left Bad Ischl in the direction of Mittersill. In the evening of the same day, the convoy arrived in Bramberg in the Pinzgau region of Salzburg, where Stuppäck was already awaiting the transport. But the odyssey of the art treasures was not over yet. The very next day, Major Fabian ordered the paintings, boxes and tapestry sacks to be loaded onto the trucks. The transport could only be accompanied by officers. Franz Sochor and Josef Hajsinek stayed in Bramberg, where they contacted the advancing American army and reported the incident.
All cultural assets were then found by the Americans in St. Johann in Tirol.
The final result of the Ischl salvage was: 8 figures, 1428 paintings, 122 sacks with tapestries, 278 folder boxes with cadastral maps and 728 boxes. A total of 150 tons of salvage.
On May 13, 1945, US troops arrived in Bad Ischl and took control of the salvage site.
On June 1, 1945, with the permission of the occupiers, the work to uncover the treasures in the salt mine could also begin, namely in the Erbstollen and in Plant XII in the I. underground construction. The II. civil engineering was initially still buried, but its opening was tackled soon afterwards. On June 13, 1945, the main salvage at the "Bahnhof" in II. Civil Engineering was accessible again. The salvage proved to be in excellent condition, with the exception of a lost painting, a bouquet of flowers by Jan Brueghel the Elder. Ä., which later reappeared in a private apartment in Munich and returned to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in 1959 after a court decision.
Am 11. Juli 1945 erschien „Monuments Man“ Lieutenant Frederick Shrady in Bad Ischl und kündigte an, dass die im ehemaligen Hotel Grüner Baum, Grazerstraße Nr. 39, und in der Kaiservilla gelagerten Objekte, nach München zum „Central Collection Point“ gebracht werden würden.
Lieutenant Frederick Shrady, Internet
On August 7, 1946, the first major transport back from Ischl to Vienna for an exhibition in Switzerland took place.
On April 25, 1947, the last large transport of art goods left the Ischl salt mine. After checking the rooms in the presence of the gendarmerie commander, the final commissioning took place and the salt works management took over sole supervision of the mountain again.
The salvage in Lauffen took place without any major losses or damage. Only the loss of 7 paintings for the Kunsthistorisches Museum had to be lamented, which are still considered lost today:
Landscape by Nicolaes Berchem (GG 623), The Painter Jan Wildens by Anthonis van Dyck (GG 694), A Female Portrait by Peter Paul Rubens (GG 711), Hoffnung by Maerten van Heemskerck (GG 1946) and
Faith (GG 1953.), a Venetian ceiling sketch (GG 6398), and a loan were still available at the general inspection on April 26, 1945.
Sources used:
Katharina Hammer "Shine in the Dark", Altaussee 1996
Franz Juraschek "Heimatblatt Oberösterreich", Linz 1947
British information service "World Press", 9 July 1947
Salzkammergut newspaper, January 6, 1946
Vienna Courier, November 19, 1945
Sabine Loitfellner, Pia Schölnberger "Salvage of cultural property under National Socialism: Myths - Background - Effects", April 18, 2016
Theodor Brückler, Art theft, art recovery and restitution in Austria 1938 to the present, 1999