 |
| Hildebrand Gurlitt |
 |
| "Landscape" by J. B. Huet |
During the German occupation of France, Hildebrand Gurlitt (1895-1956) was one of the most prolific German art purchasing agents working for the Third Reich. In May 1944, on one of his many shopping sprees to acquire works of art in Paris for his Nazi overseers and for himself, he purchased a painting by Jean-Baptiste Huet (1745-1811) titled Landscape with stream and bridge (« Paysage avec ruisseau et pont »).
The seller was Theo Hermsen (1905-1944), an expert at facilitating the exportation of works of art from France to the Reich. He shipped the painting to Munich for it to join Hitler’s Linz Museum project (#3691).
 |
| Theo Hermsen |
In late April 1945, more than a thousand paintings disappeared from the Führerbau. The theft happened in the brief interregnum between Nazi rule and US military occupation—72 hours give or take a couple. After Nazis vacated most of Munich, in that brief spate which transformed the Führerbau and its cultural riches into a no man’s land, swarms of local Munich residents broke into the unguarded facility searching for food and booze, but instead they found heaps of paintings and carted them off through all available exits, narrow or large, in record time, vanishing into nearby neighborhoods or what was left of them after repeated Allied air raids. The few paintings still at the Führerbau when the Americans liberated Munich on 30 April-1 May 1945 were stolen under the very noses of the American liberators. It was the largest recorded theft in Munich history. To this day, most of the paintings remain at large.
 |
| The Führerbau, Munich |
The Huet painting journeyed through Munich’s criminal underworld of petty thieves and black marketeers. One of the Führerbau thieves, Karl Boser, who lived on Fürtenstrasse, made off with at least seven paintings and some furniture. He crammed them into a wheelbarrow and set off towards his building. Frau Kiermayer (or Kiermeyer) who lived on his street offered to help him push the wheelbarrow. Boser was grateful for her assistance and to reward her for her kind gesture, he gave her two of the paintings that he had stolen from the Führerbau. One of them was the Huet painting. Mrs. Kiermayer sold one painting to a local Munich art dealer and gave her niece the Huet painting as a wedding present since her niece had become a “GI bride” when she married Maurice E. O’Neill (or O’Neal). The newly married O’Neill couple moved to Rodeo, a small town north of Oakland, California, and lived in a neighborhood called Bayo Vista.
It was not until 1948 that, quite by chance, American investigators unraveled the story behind the Huet painting.
The break in the case came in the fall of 1948 when a former baker, Joseph Schwertl, one of the Führerbau thieves who also lived on Fürtenstrasse, admitted to American investigators that Frau Kirmeier (Kiermayer), a woman living in his building block, had offered him two paintings. Schwertl declined her offer which then led her to get rid of the two paintings, including the Huet that she gave to her niece as a wedding present.
When questioned, Frau Kirmeier [Kiermayer] confirmed that her neighbor, Karl Boser, had stolen the paintings from the Fũhrerbau and that he had given her two of the ones he stole, exchanging the rest of his loot for 15000 cigarettes on the Munich black market. After finding out that Mrs. Kiermayer had given the painting to her niece, the MFA&A section in Munich sent several letters to the O’Neill [O’Neal] couple on 27 October 1948 alerting them that they had exported a stolen painting to the United States in contravention of numerous laws. The US government therefore had the right to confiscate it and send it back to Germany. Receiving no answer, they contacted Walter Horn, a former MFA&A colleague and investigator, who was teaching art at the University of California and asked him for his assistance.
 |
| Walter W. Horn |
Horn contacted officers from the Oakland (California)-based 62nd Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (CID) who quickly ascertained the location of the painting and had it removed from the O’Neill residence in order to send it back to Germany. Under the Four-Power agreement, the country from which the painting had been removed was its next destination. That country, in turn, was responsible for finding the rightful owner and restitute the painting thereto. Oftentimes, that did not happen. Since the painting had been purchased in and removed from France, the American authorities were bound to repatriate it to France. The painting reached Munich on 8 August 1949 and it was shipped to France on 27 October 1949.
Sources:
Edgar Breitenbach to Intelligence Department Files, OMGBavaria, MFA&A Section, 26 October 1948, RG260 M 1946 Roll 151 NARA
Edgar Breitenbach to Intelligence Department Files, 4 November 1948, RG 260 M 1946 Roll 151 NARA
Stefan A. Munsing, Chief, MFA&A Section, to Inspector General, Munich Military Post, 9 May 1949, RG 260 M 1946 Roll 151 NARA
 |
| MCCP card (verso) |
 |
| MCCP card (recto) |
Photo credits:
Photo of Huet painting courtesy of www.dhm.de
Photo of Hildebrand Gurlitt courtesy of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildebrand_Gurlitt
Photo of Theo Hermsen courtesy of https://agorha.inha.fr/ark:/54721/c1e95c1c-86ad-4cee-b790-e6cdf39a1cc5
Photo of Walter W. Horn courtesy of https://www.monumentsmenandwomenfnd.org/monuments-men-and-women/walter-horn?srsltid=AfmBOopeYzRl4QdqzotvboMIiZ4R2f4RTILZoPxBIJxETbTADftIPYIV
Photo of Walter W. Horn courtesy of https://www.monumentsmenandwomenfnd.org/monuments-men-and-women/walter-horn?srsltid=AfmBOopeYzRl4QdqzotvboMIiZ4R2f4RTILZoPxBIJxETbTADftIPYIV
Photo of the Führerbau courtesy of https://www.hitler-archive.com/index.php?t=F%C3%BChrerbau
Cast of characters
France, 1944
France, 1944
Munich, 1945-1948
Karl Boser
Frau Kiermayer (or Kiermeyer)
Joseph Schwertl
Rodeo, California (1948-1949)
Mrs. Kiermayer’s niece
Maurice E. O’Neill (or O’Neal)
Walter W. Horn (1908-1995)
Locations:
Paris, France
Munich, Germany
Führerbau (Arcisstrasse)
Fürtenstrasse
Rodeo, California, USA
Bayo Vista neighborhood
