Entrechtet, verfolgt, verdrängt: jüdische Kunsthändlerinnen und Kunsthändler in München im Nationalsozialismus

The Munich art market during the National Socialist era holds a distinctive position in comparison to the rest of the Reich: from 1933 onwards, Munich was intended to function as the art metropolis of the „Third Reich” while simultaneously serving as the centre of origin and power of National Socialism, playing a decisive role in the persecution of the Jewish population. These constellations became programmatically condensed within the Munich art market.

Jewish art dealers were affected by persecution measures years before the November Pogrom of 1938 and the administratively controlled expropriations. The present study examines the racist and anti-Semitic persecution and displacement of these actors in the Munich art market and beyond.

The study covers developments from 1918 to 1958. The first part analyses situations of persecution of Jewish art dealers in Munich and identifies four phases of displacement between 1933 and 1945. The second part provides an overview and research tool in the form of an index of companies and their respective actors.

Melida Steinke studied Museology at the University of Applied Sciences for Technology, Business and Culture in Leipzig, as well as History of Art and History at Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, where she received her doctorate in 2024 with the present dissertation. She works as an art historian and provenance researcher in Munich.