Friedlaender-Fuld, Milly Antonie von

Milly Antonie von Friedlaender-Fuld was born in the Netherlands in 1866, the daughter of the banker Elias Jacob Fuld and his wife Lina. Her father, a native of Frankfurt, ran the Amsterdam bank Becker & Fuld together with Carl Becker, which maintained close ties with the Rothschild Bank in Frankfurt.

In 1891 Milly Antonie Fuld married Friedrich (Fritz) Victor Friedlaender (30.08.1858 Gleiwitz - 16.07.1917 Gut Lanke near Bernau), whose father had founded the coal wholesaler of the same name, Emanuel Friedlaender et Comp. Fritz Friedlaender's entrepreneurial flair brought the company further success. He opened up the production of coal derivatives, such as coke, ammonia and benzene, with the founding of Oberschlesische Kokswerke und Chemische Fabriken AG. In 1914 he was chairman of the supervisory board of the Braunkohlen- und Brikett-Industrie AG, the Russische Montanindustrie AG and the Rybniker Steinkohlen-Gewerkschaft, the union of the company-owned coal mines in Silesia. He was also a member of the supervisory board of the AEG, the Deutsche Bank, the Deutsche Lloyd Transport-Versicherungs AG and many others. According to a list from 1913, the family was one of the wealthiest families in Germany.

In 1895 the family acquired land on Pariser Platz, on which a city palace (Pariser Platz 5a-6), the "Palais Friedlaender", was built according to the plans of the court architect Ernst von Ihne. Schloss Lanke near Bernau was used as the family's summer residence from 1894.

In 1906 Friedrich Friedlaender was ennobled and from then on called himself "von Friedlaender-Fuld" after his wife's family. The couple had a daughter, Marie-Anne von Friedlaender-Fuld, later married von Goldschmidt-Rothschild (17.01.1892 Berlin - 30.11.1973 Paris).

The town house on Pariser Platz was furnished in a manner befitting its status and contained a constantly growing art collection, which was later to include the collection of the daughter, who collected paintings by van Gogh, Picasso, Gauguin, but also by French Impressionists such as Manet and Monet. Fritz von Friedlaender-Fuld was known for his collection of gold and silver objects, such as rare boxes, nécessaires, flacons and watches, parts of which he had exhibited in Berlin in 1906.

After her husband's death in 1917, Milly Antonie von Friedlaender-Fuld initially moved to the Netherlands and France. However, the palace and its inventory remained in the family and were used by Milly Antonie von Friedlaender-Fuld, who still resided there in June 1938, as well as by Marie-Anne von Goldschmidt-Rothschild and her family.

Three years after Hitler's seizure of power, the first objects in the collection, which came from the estate of Milly Antonie von Friedlaender-Fuld, were auctioned off in Frankfurt am Main at the Hugo Helbing auction house. Further objects followed. The Berlin art dealers Hans W. Lange and Ferdinand Knapp are said to have acquired as yet unidentifiable and "not inconsiderable parts at an auction of the estate", although it remains unclear whether this refers to an auction or even confiscation at the Berlin Palais.

In 1938, Marie-Anne von Goldschmidt-Rothschild finally moved out and the clearing out of the Palais began. She emigrated in the period before October 1938. The properties on Pariser Platz belonging to her and her mother were forcibly sold to Albert Speer, the Director General for German Roads, on behalf of the German Reich in August and September 1939 respectively, after threats of expropriation.

On 15 August 1939, ten furniture vans belonging to the forwarding company Berthold Jakoby left Berlin with inventory and art objects from the collection of Milly Antonie von Friedlaender-Fuld for Amsterdam, where the removal goods were stored at the firm De Gruyter & Co.

Prior to this, the expert Dr. Ludwig Schmidt-Bangel had carried out an appraisal of the "objects of special artistic or artistic-commercial value" on behalf of the Devisenstelle Berlin, which listed approx. 295 items (some in groups) on 17 pages and gave a total appraisal value of RM 487,820. The collection valued by Schmidt-Bangel included, among others, a number of French and English masters, such as Hyancinthe Rigaud, Jean Louis Tocqué, Jean Marc Nattier and Joshua Reynolds, more than a hundred English and French colour prints of the 19th century, silver as well as Italian and French bronzes of the 17th and 18th centuries, valuable screens and textiles, Chinese, Austrian and German porcelain of the 17th and 18th centuries and French furniture mainly of the 18th century. A prominent object in the collection was the painting by Jean-Baptiste François Joseph Pater "The Widow of Ephesus", which has been lost until today.

After the occupation of the Netherlands by the Germans, Milly Antonie von Friedlaender-Fuld fled to France. She died in Cannes in 1943. Her daughter, who had also found temporary exile in France, managed to emigrate via Mexico to the USA in 1940.

In May 1941, the Sammelverwaltung feindlicher Hausgeräte (SfH) (Collective Administration of Enemy Household Goods) confiscated the Amsterdam warehouse property as "enemy assets". On 11-12 June 1941, the first objects were auctioned off by the auction house Van Marle & Bignell in The Hague. The consignor for this and other auctions is listed as either the Sammelverwaltung feindlicher Hausgeräte (SfH) or "Heim in Holland", a subdivision of the former.

At least fifteen more auctions followed (18-20.06.1941, 01.07.1941, 15.07.1941, 16-17.07.1941, 22-23.07.1941, 20-25.10.1941, 04-05.11.1941, 18-19.11.1941, 16-17.12. 1941, 22.-23.12.1941, 27.01.1942, 10.-11.02.1942, 24.-26.02.1942, 28.-30.04.1942, 16.06.1942) on which objects from the estate of Milly Antonie von Friedlaender-Fuld were offered. The largest group of objects was auctioned off by the auction house Van Marle & Bignell in The Hague from 20 to 25 October 1941, stating the full name of the collection. Partial proceeds from the auctions were transferred to the Deutsche Revisions- und Treuhand AG (DRT) with deductions for the institutions involved. Even though we assume that most probably all objects of this auction belonged to the collection of Milly Antonie von Friedlaender-Fuld, only those objects of which sources with proof of ownership outside the catalogue are known are included here for the time being.

After the war, approximately 70 objects were restituted to the family by Dutch art trading companies - including J. S. Fetter, K. W. Bachstitz, Esher Surrey C.V. (formerly Marle & Bignell), Etienne Delaunoy N.V., C.V. Steltman - and the Dutch state, who were buyers at the Hague auctions of 1941 and 1942. Since 1998, a portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud (NK 1840, today attributed to J.F. Voet) has been restituted.

Selected sources

• Anne-Carolin Augustin: Berliner Kunstmatronage. Sammlerinnen und Förderinnen bildender Kunst um 1900. Göttingen 2018. (Milly von Friedlaender-Fuld) S.124-131; (von Goldschmidt-Rothschild) S.259- 271.

• Dolores L. Augustine: The Business Elites of Hamburg and Berlin. In: Central European History. 24(1991)2-3, S.132-146, hier S.134, 140-141, 143f.

• D - BA, B 323/368, Einzelfälle Frankfurt - Fulda, 1946 - 1964, Friedländer-Fuld, Blatt 213.

• D - BA, B 323/574, "Verzeichnis der der Treuhandverwaltung bekannt gewordenen Restitutionen von 1945 bis 1962", Bd. 1, 1962, Friedländer-Fuld, Amsterdam, Blatt 88.

• D - BA, B 323/673, list of objects sold to Lange from dutch owner Friedländer-Fuld. Blatt 109-114.

• D - BA, R 87/8841, Nachlass von Friedländer-Fuld, Fritz; Erbin: Goldschmidt-Rothschild, Baronin von, geb. von Friedländer-Fuld, Marie-Anne, Paris, 1945 - 1948

• D - BADV, Finanzamt Moabit-West, 906 II 59, Friedlaender-Fuld, Milly von

• D - BADV, Finanzamt Moabit-West, 907 II 380, Goldschmidt-Rothschild, Marie-Anne von

• D - BADV, Reichs-Vermögensteuerakte, 109/1252, Goldschmidt-Rothschild, Marie Anne von

• D - BADV, 21 WGA 289/51, Goldschmidt-Rothschild, Marie Anne von, 5 Waggons Kunstgegenstände

• D - BADV, 21 WGA 290/51, Goldschmidt-Rothschild, Marie Anne von, Verlust von Einrichtungsgegenständen.

• D - BADV, 2 WGA 6863/59, Goldschmidt-Rothschild, Marie Anne von, Umzugsgut

• D - BADV, 2 WGA 10230/59, Goldschmidt-Rothschild, Marie Anne von, Kaufpreisforderung Pariser Platz

• D - LAB, B Rep. 025-02, Nr. 934/55. Marie-Anne Baronin von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, geb. von Friedlaender-Fuld (*17.01.1892), 31 Rue de la Faisanderie, Paris 16 gegen das Deutsche Reich. Milly von Friedlaender-Fuld, geb. Fuld (Mutter), verwitwet. Einrichtungsgegenstände aus dem schlossähnlichen Haus Pariser Platz 5a-6, Berlin.

• D - LAB, B Rep. 025-02, Nr. 1044/51. Marie-Anne Baronin von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, geb. von Friedlaender-Fuld, Kunstgegenstände Knapp.

• D - LAB, B Rep. 025-02, Nr. 10229/59. Marie-Anne Baronin von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, geb. von Friedlaender-Fuld (*17.01.1892), 31 Rue de la Faisanderie, Paris 16 gegen das Deutsche Reich. Milly von Friedlaender-Fuld, geb. Fuld (Mutter), verwitwet. Hausrat.- Kaufpreisforderung.

• D - LAB, B Rep. 025-02, Nr. 10230/59. Marie-Anne Baronin von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, geb. von Friedlaender-Fuld (*17.01.1892), 31 Rue de la Faisanderie, Paris 16 gegen das Deutsche Reich. Milly von Friedlaender-Fuld, geb. Fuld (Mutter), verwitwet. Hausrat.- Kaufpreisforderung.

• D - LAB, B Rep. 025 - 06, Nr. 2279/51 Beteiligung an der Firma Emanuel Friedländer.

• D - SMB-ZA, IV/NL Bode 1915, Friedlaender-Fuld, Fritz von

• D - SMB-ZA, IV/NL Bode 1916, Friedlaender-Fuld, Milly von

• Caroline Flick: Geschick im System. Der Kunsthändler Hans W. Lange. November 2011. S.13, FN 40 unter carolineflick.de/aufsaetze/geschick/

• Christel H. Force: Rolled Canvases Across Borders. The Collection of Marianne de Goldschmidt-Rothschild. Unter doi.org/10.11588/artdok.00007517.

• Kunstversteigerungshaus Hugo Helbing: Sammlung eines Rheinischen Großindustriellen. Frankfurter und Berliner Kunstbesitz (Katalog Nr. 48). Auktion vom 11. - 13.05.1936. Frankfurt 1936.

• Van Marle en Bignell: Zeer belangrijke Kunstveiling waarbij Collectie Mevr. Milly A. von Friedländer Fuld. Catalogus van een belangrijke verzameling zeer kostbare antiquiteiten: w.o. verschillende uiterst zeldzame gouden doozen. Perzische e.a. tapijten, alsmede een nerz pelsjas. Auktion vom 20.10.1941. Den Haag 1941

• NL - HaNA, 2.08.42, Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit (SNK), 144, 145, 234, 337, 363, 401, 580, 594, 618, 619, 630, 635, 673-676, 703, 944, 1041.

• NL - HaNA, 2.09.16.04, Nederlands Beheersinstituut, 78103 Friedlander-Fuld, M.A., Amsterdam

• US - NARA, RG 260, M1946, Ardelia Hall Collection, Munich Administrative Records, Roll 46, Restitution Claim Records, Jewish Claims, Numbered 0004-0014, J 009 Friedlaender-Fuld (Akte fehlt)

• www.restitutiecommissie.nl/en/recommendations/recommendation_126.html

Esther Sabelus