Oscar Huldschinsky

Oscar Huldschinsky, who was a founding member of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum Association,[6] invested part of his money in an extensive art collection that included paintings by Sandro Botticelli, Tiepolo, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Jacob van Ruisdael and Peter Paul Rubens.[7] He gave the Berlin museums several generous foundations. For example, the National Gallery received the pastel painting Entertainment from Edgar Degas and the sculpture The Thinker from Auguste Rodin, and the Gemäldegalerie received the Lamentation of Christ from Hugo van der Goes and Maria with the Child from the workshop of Jan van Scorel.[8] In 1898 Wilhelm von Bode, who advised Huldschinsky on his purchases, presented the Huldschinsky collection in the Berlin picture gallery.[9][10] In 1909 he published a brochure on Huldschinsky's collection.[11] In 1926, Huldschinsky was painted by Max Liebermann.[10] Oscar Huldschinsky had to auction some of his works of art in 1928 after he lost all of his property in Upper Silesia in the referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921.

He also had to sell his residence at Wannsee. The industrialist and banker Georgschicht, who emigrated to London a few years after the purchase, became the new owner. In 1942 the property became the property of the German Reich. It was initially used by the Reich Forest Administration, later the Italian ambassador moved to Huldschinsky's villa. On 19 June 1948 the establishment of the Free University of Berlin was discussed there. Between 1954 and 1995 the villa served as a hospital; In 1999 the main building was sold. The side villa, in which Huldschinsky's children once lived, is being renovated.

The Huldschinsky family crypt in the Wannsee cemetery in Berlin-Zehlendorf

Oscar Huldschinsky was buried as a Jew in the New Cemetery in Wannsee. His grave in a family crypt of Otto Stahn has been preserved.[12] While he was still alive, he applied for Jews to be buried in this cemetery.[13] His son Paul was interned in the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen in November 1938. After his release, Paul Huldschinsky and his family fled to the US, where he settled in Santa Monica, west of Los Angeles, and became part of the German-speaking community in exile there.[14] His daughter, Susanne (née Reichenheim), died trying to arrange the escape of her family from Nazi Germany. Huldshinsky's favorite granddaughter Anna-Susanne Sommer (née Reichenheim) was artistically gifted. On his death Hulschinky left her and the other four grandchildren 66,000 RM each as well as artworks from his collection. In 1937, the Gestapo arrested Anna-Susanne's husband, Hans, who worked in film, as he performed on the Scala Theatre stage, demanding that he divorce his Jewish wife, which he refused to do. Persecuted and plundered by the Nazis because of their Jewish heritage, most of the family managed to escape to the United States. The book Lost Lives, Lost Art: Jewish Collectors, Nazi Art Theft, and the Quest for Justice devotes a chapter to them entitled, "Oscar Huldschinsky (1846-1931) and Ann Sommer (1910-2009)" [15][16]