history lesson, hotel sacher vienna winter 2003

history lesson.

It had snowed overnight. the snow patrol  was doing it´s best to extinguish the waves of white on the pavements, and the cars did a good job in turning the rest into a dark grey mush. 

I trotted down the gumpendorferstraße. it was completely empty, but for a lonely bus passing by every now and then. It was freezing, the wind bit through the layers of my clothes, my breath froze onto my scarf. I played with the notion of pretending to be on some kind of Siberian expedition. 

The excursion at first was rather trivial however, i ended up at an Aida conditorei for coffee and cakes. The Formica interior felt comforting, womb-like. The waitresses in their pink outfits  looked like nurses who would bring chocolate and cream as if it was prescription medicine. I sat there and noticed that Aida sold bonbons in Klimt styled packaging. „the kiss“ and „danae“ where on the boxes. I had to think of the Klimts in the Belvedere museum again.

By that time Austria was in a legal dispute about five paintings of Klimt. They were seized by the nazis from the Bloch Bauer family, together with all asset the family had. Castles, the sugar-factory, porcelain, and all their bank accounts.

The dispute between the rightful heirs of the masterworks and the Austrian government was taken to the supreme court in the United States. Austria kept maintaining that Adele Bloch Bauer had expressed her wish to keep the paintings in Austria after her death. 

The Bloch Bauers were rich. both came from grand industrial families, Adele Bauers father was a banker and the director of the Orient Express.  Ferdinand Bloch was more wealthy even, his sugar factory made money like rain. Their love was a match made in heaven, their marriage was one of  true companionship. They made their love life very public, even to the extent that they put both of their last names together, very uncommon in those days. Ferdinand Bloch became Ferdinand Bloch Bauer. His brother married one of Adeles sisters, and they did the same. 

Ferdinand was much older than Adele, but he worshipped her intellect and her love and knowledge of the arts. Together they decided that Gustav Klimt would be commissioned to make seven paintings for them. Two of the paintings where portraits of Adele, and they struck the personality of her meticulously. She could appear so stern and austere, like true royalty. And royal he painted her: gold was used to the excess, the ornaments in the background reached back into the time of the pharaohs even.

Adele was often taken ill, but she carried her times of illness with almost more grandeur and passion than her healthy times. She would completely succumb into the quixotic idea of suffering for great artistry.

Seemingly without any effort would she slip back into the role as poised and dazzling hostess of their Salon.  The couple was the centre of Vienna's jeunesse dorrée. They were the sun of the new century by any means. They held the salons in their home, where the high society would meet up with the great artists of the new time, and party. I could almost see Adele, the proud hostess, smoking her cigarettes, a so not-to-do thing for a lady of her class back then. Having conversations with her consort Stefan Zweig, or listening to the newest piece which Mahler had just conducted. Her dearest friend was Klimt. It was even rumoured that both had a love relationship. Many Viennese saw erotic connotations in the elaborate ornament that he painted around her, and they were sure that his very erotic work called Judith was in fact another camouflaged painting of her. The rumours were encouraged when Adele had one room in their palace solely dedicated to his art. 

Adele Bloch Bauer died of pneumonia in 1925. Ferdinand turned the Klimt room, as it was called, into a shrine for Adele. Fresh flowers were put under her portrait every day. 

In her will she had stated that the Klimt paintings should go to the Belvedere museum after her husband Ferdinand would die. 

In 1938, the national socialist party put all of the estate of the Bloch Bauers under "protective custody", by the false pretext that Ferdinand had tried to evade taxes. It happened to many wealthy jews, some were even held hostage, like baron von Rothschild. the same happened to Ferdinands brother. he was taken to a concentration camp, and to have him released, they had to turn over all their assets. immediately after his release, the Bloch Bauer family left Austria. Ferdinand fled to switzerland, his brother and Adeles sister to the United States. 

By 1945, when Ferndinand was still in exile, he changed his will, revoking the wishes of his wife. He died in Switzerland, just months after the second world war, completely impoverished. 

For years and years the Bloch Bauer family in the United States tried to get the paintings and other belongings back. 

The government of Austria had Adeles testament, which so clearly mentioned that the paintings should be at the national gallery, and used it as an argument constantly. They did not feel the need to discuss a legal matter, which, in the governments view, was a non issue. the heirs had no legal means to claim their belongings back.

This changed when Ferdinands revised will was discovered in the late nineties by a journalist who was investigating the case. 

A lawsuit was filed at the U.S. supreme court by Maria Altmann, the last surviving heiress to the Bloch Bauer estate.

Austria then simply stated to be immune to any US lawsuit, being a foreign sovereign country. The claim should be settled in Austria. 

Maria Altmann tried to come to an agreement with the Austrian Government. She made numerous proposals for a reasonable settlement. Each and every of her offers was declined by the Austrian Government. Her final bid was that the paintings should be returned in her ownership, but she would allow Austria to lend two paintings to be permanently exhibited at the Belvedere museum. Austria would have to pay for the estimated value of the total five paintings however. This offer was not taken by the Austrian government either. 

The supreme court then ordered arbitration, and Austria acceded. 

And there i sat, in Aida, having my cake, looking at these chocolate boxes. Making money with their decorative gold and ornamental lusciousness, wondering what would happen to the real stuff. 

I remembered that i still had to buy crayons for the drawing session with R. and left once more to the gumpendorferstraße. I had seen a couple of shops there. One of them obviously sold flowers, as the sign said: „blumen“ another one said "fleisch" and a third one said "papier". This was solid shopping advice.

the crispy blue cold of that morning had made way for a dark and shady fog. even the coloured buildings in the streets faded to grey. The few people that walked the streets had themselves deeply covered in dark coats. all colour had gone. And the snow had been diminished to big heeps of brown debris at the edge of every sidewalk.

i walked to the shop. Just before it  i stumbled on some tiles in front of a building. they were made out of bronze. 10 square centimetres each. every tile had a name on it:

Hedwig Freund. Irma Kaufman. Max Freund. Leo Spitzer. Rudolf Ambes. Max Rosenzweig. Erna Beran. Valerie Ambes. More and more names. And their birth-dates. these all differed. The year of death was the same with each and every tile: 1944.

The shop was closed. I had no stationary for our drawing session and would have to go back to the hotel without having accomplished my errand.