Papen TLS

 

TLS Franz von Papen to Fritz Wiedemann, Albertina Museum

Date: January 15, 1936

Location: Vienna, Austria

Medium: Typed letter signed (TLS)

Collection: Yavneh Klos Collection, Nazi Perpetrators Archive 

A chancellor of Weimar Germany, former vice-chancellor of Germany under Hitler, and current German ambassador to Austria, Franz von Papen addresses “rumors” concerning the Albertina Museum’s deaccessioning of artworks. Papen and other leading leaders were committed to eradicating “degenerate” art (cubism, expressionism and impressionism). Those schools would be replaced with a new style of art that venerated the German people and society – and which of course involved race-conscious imagery that sought to marginalize the artworks produced during the “decadent”; Weimar Republic or produced by Jews. After the Anschluss (the annexation of Austria) in 1938, the Nazis turned their attention to confiscating art from institutions in Austria and Poland – such as the Albertina Museum in Vienna, which to this day houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world.