Handicrafts and paintings |
Collection of Siegfried Fuchs
Authors:
Kathrin Pallestrang,
Magdalena Puchberger,
Claudia Spring
Kathrin Pallestrang,
Magdalena Puchberger,
Claudia Spring
Siegfried Fuchs and his collection
Siegfried Fuchs was born in Vienna on 26 December 1883 as the fourth of six children of the commercial agent Rudolf and his wife Mathilde Fuchs. He grew up in Praterstraße in the 2nd district and continued to live there after becoming a lawyer and opening an office on Mölker Bastei in the 1st district. He had an extensive library and diverse collections of musical manuscripts, instruments, handicrafts, art and folk art.
On 15 July 1938 he declared his assets to the Property Transaction Office in accordance with the Regulation on the Declaration of Jewish Assets. He valued his assets, including the collection, at 10,500 reichsmarks.
Under the Fifth Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Act of 27 September 1938, which prohibited Jews from working in the legal profession, Fuchs was deleted from the register of lawyers and could no longer earn a living in this way. He was obliged that month to close his office on Mölker Bastei. He moved it to his home but was hardly able to earn any income.
Between mid-November and early December 1938, he reported to the Property Transaction Office that he had been forced to sell some of his collection so as to pay for his living costs. He also had to pay the Jewish Asset Levy imposed by the Nazi regime by selling items from his collection.
By 12 November 1938 he had sold objects worth around 2,000 reichsmarks and also reported on 15 December 1938 that he wished to pay the first instalment of the Reich Flight Tax imposed by the Nazi regime for those wishing to emigrate from the German Reich. It was during this time that he first sold objects to the ÖMV. A total of fifteen objects were incorporated into the museum collection in 1939 under inventory numbers ÖMV/44.079 to 44.085 and ÖMV/44.283 to 44.290.
The amendment to the asset declaration made by Fuchs on 28 July 1939 indicates that his collection was then only worth half as much as it had been in July 1938.
An application by the Wiener Städtische Sammlungen of 15 September 1939 to “secure” the rest of the Fuchs collection so that he would no longer have any access to it was turned down by the Central Monument Protection Office on the grounds that the collection were in itself of little significance and also that Fuchs was interested in selling it.
In 1940 two further objects from Fuchs were acquired by the ÖMV under inventory numbers ÖMV/44.932 and 44.933. By this time at the latest, the NSDAP member and museum director Arthur Haberlandt (1889–1964) must have been aware of the circumstances of the purchases, because the indication “Jew” was noted next to the name “Dr Siegfried Fuchs” in the inventory book.
Fuchs left Vienna in December of that year. He had managed to transfer 400 US dollars to the account of the Committee for the Assistance of European Refugees in Shanghai, as required by the Shanghai municipal authorities. Those who could not make this payment were refused entry into the country.
The Central Monument Protection Office gave only limited export permission for what was left of the collection. He had to leave many objects behind or offer them to sell them to various museums.
We know nothing of the circumstances of the voyage and his life in Shanghai. He died there on 25 July 1946.
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Siegfried Fuchs was born in Vienna on 26 December 1883 as the fourth of six children of the commercial agent Rudolf and his wife Mathilde Fuchs. He grew up in Praterstraße in the 2nd district and continued to live there after becoming a lawyer and opening an office on Mölker Bastei in the 1st district. He had an extensive library and diverse collections of musical manuscripts, instruments, handicrafts, art and folk art.
On 15 July 1938 he declared his assets to the Property Transaction Office in accordance with the Regulation on the Declaration of Jewish Assets. He valued his assets, including the collection, at 10,500 reichsmarks.
Under the Fifth Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Act of 27 September 1938, which prohibited Jews from working in the legal profession, Fuchs was deleted from the register of lawyers and could no longer earn a living in this way. He was obliged that month to close his office on Mölker Bastei. He moved it to his home but was hardly able to earn any income.
Between mid-November and early December 1938, he reported to the Property Transaction Office that he had been forced to sell some of his collection so as to pay for his living costs. He also had to pay the Jewish Asset Levy imposed by the Nazi regime by selling items from his collection.
By 12 November 1938 he had sold objects worth around 2,000 reichsmarks and also reported on 15 December 1938 that he wished to pay the first instalment of the Reich Flight Tax imposed by the Nazi regime for those wishing to emigrate from the German Reich. It was during this time that he first sold objects to the ÖMV. A total of fifteen objects were incorporated into the museum collection in 1939 under inventory numbers ÖMV/44.079 to 44.085 and ÖMV/44.283 to 44.290.
The amendment to the asset declaration made by Fuchs on 28 July 1939 indicates that his collection was then only worth half as much as it had been in July 1938.
An application by the Wiener Städtische Sammlungen of 15 September 1939 to “secure” the rest of the Fuchs collection so that he would no longer have any access to it was turned down by the Central Monument Protection Office on the grounds that the collection were in itself of little significance and also that Fuchs was interested in selling it.
In 1940 two further objects from Fuchs were acquired by the ÖMV under inventory numbers ÖMV/44.932 and 44.933. By this time at the latest, the NSDAP member and museum director Arthur Haberlandt (1889–1964) must have been aware of the circumstances of the purchases, because the indication “Jew” was noted next to the name “Dr Siegfried Fuchs” in the inventory book.
Fuchs left Vienna in December of that year. He had managed to transfer 400 US dollars to the account of the Committee for the Assistance of European Refugees in Shanghai, as required by the Shanghai municipal authorities. Those who could not make this payment were refused entry into the country.
The Central Monument Protection Office gave only limited export permission for what was left of the collection. He had to leave many objects behind or offer them to sell them to various museums.
We know nothing of the circumstances of the voyage and his life in Shanghai. He died there on 25 July 1946.
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