Hildebrand Gurlitt and His Dealings with German Museums During the “Third Reich”

With the unexpected discovery of the “Munich Art Trove” in November 2013, the name of Hildebrand Gurlitt became famous overnight through media stories around the world. Spanning four periods of German history, Gurlitt started as an art historian in the late-period German Reich. During the Weimar Republic, he became a driving force behind a museum reform movement promoting a policy for arts and culture that supported the collection of contemporary art in German museums. After Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Gurlitt had to step down from his museum role. He started a career as an art dealer, first independently and later on behalf of Hitler himself. The extensive, international art network Gurlitt had developed beforehand became trade routes for looted and seized art, as well as the hedge for his comeback in post–World War II Germany. They are the fine lines between merits, crime, and repression in the professional and biographical journey of Hildebrand Gurlitt.