As of: April 8, 2024, 5:59 p.m
By: Josef Hornsteiner
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The “Haus Hügel am Weg” in Untergrainau, where the Berolzheimer family lived until they fled. © Dr. Michael Zehetmair
Michael Berolzheimer is fighting. About works of art that belong to his family and that the Nazis stole in the 1930s. The “Haus Hügel am Weg” in Untergrainau was the scene of the crime. BR editor Dr. Michael Zehetmair now tells the story of the Jewish family that called Grainau their home.
Grainau/Little Saint Simons Island – There are around 600 graphics and 800 hand drawings that Michael Berolzheimer is fighting for. From America, on the small island of Little Saint Simons Island in the US state of Georgia. The island belongs to his family. Around Thanksgiving she comes together in the wild natural idyll with a few holiday homes. There she sometimes talks about the works of art that were stolen from her ancestor, also a Michael Berolzheimer, in Untergrainau over 80 years ago. Why, explains Dr. Michael Zehetmair in a contribution as part of the ARD project “Art, Robbery and Return – Forgotten Life Stories” (see broadcast information).
The senior editor in the cultural department of Bayerischer Rundfunk visited the family in the USA with his camera team. Michael Berolzheimer is a descendant of the Jewish couple Michael (1886 to 1942) and Melitta Berolzheimer. These originally come from the Franconian area. But in 1904 she was drawn to the mountains, to Untergrainau. There they bought a property which they called “Haus Hügel am Weg”. There they also housed the works of art that their descendants have been fighting for for decades.
Jewish family felt comfortable in Untergrainau - until the Nazis came
His ancestor Michael Berolzheimer was the son of Heinrich Berolzheimer (1836 to 1906), entrepreneur and head of a large company in Fürth that manufactured pencils. He studied law in Munich and worked briefly as a lawyer. In 1902 he married Melitta Schweisheimer. They had two children and moved to Untergrainau in 1904. “From what we know, the family felt very comfortable there,” says Grainau local researcher Peter Schwarz.
While filming in the USA: (from left) Michael Berolzheimer is filmed by cameraman Steve McMillan (right) and his assistant. © Dr. Michael Zehetmair
As a wealthy heir to the company, Michael Berolzheimer was able to take the freedom to live, in a sense, as a private citizen in Werdenfelser Land. But he also got involved locally. He was a financier in the expansion of the Krepbach to combat the risk of flooding. Berolzheimer has always been interested in Jewish history and culture in Bavaria. But his great love was art. He trained to become an expert in print graphics, collected them and ultimately owned a considerable number of graphics and hand drawings, including by Dutch, Italian Baroque painters and from the German Romantic period, including an oil sketch of the “Poor Poet” by Carl Spitzweg.
After the handover of power to the Nazis, Berolzheimer hesitated for a long time whether he would evade the persecution of the Jews
After the handover of power to the National Socialists in 1933, Berolzheimer hesitated for a long time to withdraw from the persecution of the Jews. After the Reichsprogrom Night in November 1938, the family had no choice but to flee to the USA via Switzerland. Berolzheimer had to leave his collection behind because it was declared a “national cultural asset”. His property in Untergrainau was also Aryanized.
Since the end of the war, his heirs have been trying to get the stolen art objects back. In 1950 they received the first dozen graphics from the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, followed by others from the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg, the Kurpfälzisches Museum Heidelberg and the Albertina in Vienna.
However, numerous works are still missing and are probably either in museums or privately owned in German-speaking countries or beyond. Berolzheimer's descendant has therefore hired a German middleman to search for the American.
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SENDING NOTICE
The article about Michael Berolzheimer will be broadcast for the first time on ARD alpha on Tuesday, April 9th at 11:25 p.m. as part of the project “Art, Robbery and Return – Forgotten Life Stories”. From then on it can be seen in the ARD media library.