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- Armand Hugo Wittekind
- Also known as
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Armand Hugo Wittekind
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primary name: Wittekind, Armand H(ugo)
- Details
- individual; dealer/auction house; German; French
- Life dates
- 05.05.1890-05.12.1966 (possibly. Alemannia-judaica.de gives his date of birth as Bad Kissingen, Germany 05 May 1890. However, this date does not match later documentation related to A.H. Wittekind. According to Alemannia-judaica.de, died 05 December 1966 in Bad Kissingen. His place of residence is apparently given in death notice as Geneva, Switzerland.)
- Biography
- Armand Hugo Wittekind, son of Arthur Wittekind and Therese. Arthur Wittekind was an antiques dealer in Bad Kissingen, Bavaria. Alemannia-judaica.de gives his date of birth as 05 May 1890. However, this date does not match later documentation related to A.H. Wittekind; recorded as a recruit to the Bavarian Reserve Feld-Artillerie (1918/1920); According to Alemannia-judaica.de Armand moved to Berlin in 1925, and married Charlotte Danziger in 1928, aged 38. However, the Berliner Tageblatt 04.11.1919 carries a marriage announcement for Armand and Lotte at the Hotel Adlon, Berlin on that day; 1924, Arthur Wittekind, Armand’s father dies aged 67 in Bad Kissingen on 02 May. The newspaper announcement gives that he is mourned by Armand Wittekind, Lotte Wittekind (nee Danziger), Fritz Danziger and Olly Danziger (nee Wittekind – Olga) and Lily Danziger. This confirms that Armand had certainly married before 1928; 1928, Arthur Wittekind named as donor to the Berlin Kunstgewerbemuseum. This name must refer to the business rather than person, given Arthur died in 1924. In that same year, the Berliner Boersenzeitung (26.11.1928) reports the transfer of the Bad Kissingen antiques business to Berlin; 1928, the company ‘Arthur Wittekind’ advertises throughout this year in International Herald Tribune, and in the years after in the small ads section of the different catalogues of the Berlin Gemaelde Galerie; In 1932, Arthur Wittekind, presumably meaning Armand Wittekind representing the firm Arthur Wittekind, was present at the British Antique Dealer’s Association banquet, reported in The Connoisseur. This appears to have been a visit to London, rather than evidence that Armand was active in England; 1935, the company ‘Arthur Wittekind’ is liquidated; In 1936, Armand Wittekind donated first gift to the BM. In the report of donations, his address is given as 3, Rue Francois 1er, Paris, VIIIe. Further gifts are registered in January and April 1937. In 1937 and 1938, Wittekind donated to the V&A Museum; In 1939, Wittekind is mentioned in Beaux Arts (27.01.1939) and L’univers Israelite (28.04.1939); 1940-1945: Objects were taken from Armand Wittekind, then still operating at 3, Rue Francois 1er (Premier) in Paris by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg. There is documentation relating to property removed and claims by Wittekind, in France and in the US (OMGUS and in the Ardelia Hall Collection); November 1943, Wittekind is noted as being at 3 Rue Francois Ier in US National Archives Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historical Monuments in War Areas (The Roberts Commission), 1943-1946. He appears on a list of Art Dealers in Paris dated 29 November, and after his name are three *** signifying ‘very reliable’; April 1946, Wittekind is noted as being at 3 Rue Francois Ier in US National Archives Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historical Monuments in War Areas (The Roberts Commission); 1943-1946; 1949-1955: There are immigration records of Armand travelling to the US in 1949, 1950, 1951 (by air), 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, and crossing the border to Canada in 1951. In the latter he states that he has travelled to the US from England, where he stayed with his sister Olga Zantler in London. Olga Zantler is possibly the Olly Danziger mentioned in 1924; 1952 visit was aboard the Queen Mary, Southampton – New York (giving year of birth as 1900, profession retired, age as 52) and was Lotte, his wife (year of birth, 1909, aged 43, housewife). This makes Lotte aged only 10 at the time of their marriage in 1919. It is ucnlear why there are multiple birth years for the couple; In 1955, Armand Wittekind, becomes member of the Freunde der Schweizer Keramik. His address is 440 Park Avenue, New York; In 1957, Armand Wittekind (given as being from New York) and Aime Martinet unite to open an antique shop on the Quai du Mont Blanc in Geneva; 1966, Armand, according to Alemannia-judaica.de, died 05 December 1966 in Bad Kissingen. His place of residence is apparently given in death notice as Geneva.
- Bibliography
- Alemannia-judaica.de
www.errproject.org/jeudepaume
Fold3.com
Ancestry.com
Victoria and Albert Museum: Reviews of the principal acquisitions
The British Museum Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Oct., 1936)
Berliner Handels-Register 67.1931
Juedische Gewerbetriebe in Berlin 1930-1945 – Database
Juedieschs Addressbuch fuer Gross-Berlin 1929
‘Sir Austen Chamberlain and the B.A.D.A.’, The Connoisseur. An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors. Vol. XV. 1932
Verordnungs-blatt des Koeniglich bayerischen Kriegsministeriums (1918, 1920)
Mitteillungsblaetter Keramik-Freunde der Schweiz (1955, 1957)