The berlin provenance, p.1
The Berlin Provenance, page 1
THE BERLIN PROVENANCE
David Reynolds
Three Leaps Books
Copyright © 2021 David Reynolds
All rights reserved
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
To Colin and Ian.
No longer with us but forever in our memories.
“Let him that sows the serpent’s teeth not hope to reap a joyous harvest.”
Friedrich Schiller
(1759 – 1805)
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Preface
PROLOGUE
PART I
1 ADAM TALMAN
2 RAINER KRAUSE
3 JAKOB & SARA TALMAN
4 RAINER KRAUSE
5 THE ART COLLECTION
6 OSCAR KELLER
7 THE FLIGHT
8 GUNTER LANG
9 JAKOB & SARA TALMAN
10 A NEW HOME
11 LIFE AT VALLEY FARM
12 RAINER GOES TO BERLIN
13 GUNTER LANG
14 GUNTER LANG TO ENGLAND
15 RAINER BUILDS AN EMPIRE
16 MAX KLEEFURT
17 ERICH KLEEFURT & CHILDREN
18 RAINER’S BIRTHDAY
19 CLIVE RAND
20 ERICA CARLTON
21 MARTIN LANG
22 RUDI ALBRECHT & THE ART SALE
PART II
23 DAY 1
24 DAY 2
25 DAY 3
26 DAY 4
27 DAY 5
28 DAY 6
29 DAY 7
30 DAY 8
31 DAY 9
32 DAY 10
33 DAY 11
34 DAY 12
35 DAY 13
36 DAY 14
37 DAY 15
38 DAY 16
39 DAY 17
40 DAY 18
41 DAY 19
42 DAY 20
43 DAY 21
PART III
44 RECOVERING THE ART
45 CHARLES MERRITT
46 BERTHOLD HORSTMANN
47 ALEXANDER ART MUSEUM
48 TWO DIFFICULT CASES
49 THE LEGACY
50 SEARCHING FOR DESCENDANTS
About The Author
Preface
Although the book is a work of fiction, I wanted the settings, real events and timings to be as authentic as possible, and apologise now to the perfectionists for any inaccuracies and intentional poetic licence that may have crept in.
I did enjoy the time I spent earlier in the book developing the background to the key characters. I became absorbed as I began to understand them and was tempted to dwell further, but I just needed enough for the investigation stages to make sense. So, I hope you find the resulting balance acceptable and enjoy the action and their happy and tender and sad moments as much as I have.
If, like me, you sometimes forget who someone is, I have named the chapters for key characters, to enable easy reacquaintance with them.
Maybe I will develop some of these characters further in a future publication.
You can let me know what you think at info@threeleapsbooks.com
PROLOGUE
Clive Rand usually made an early start when he decided to work at home, and had already been at his terminal for an hour in the study upstairs when he heard today’s mail hit the floor in the hallway. His concentration had evaporated now, so he went downstairs to gather up the pile. The bulky item with German stamps caught his eye. It was from his close university friend Martin Lang. This was unusual. Martin wouldn’t normally write.
Hi Clive,
I’m actually in Germany at the moment dealing with a number of fine art auctions and something has come up that I would welcome your help on. I mentioned that my father died after his stomach cancer eventually took its toll. Anyway, I was going through his will and one item I inherited was a rather lovely old painting of a family group. Years earlier, he had told me how it came into his possession. As a boy in 1943, he’d been playing in a derelict site just after the RAF had started bombing Berlin. He found it exciting to explore the ruins, and on one of his sorties, he came across a severely damaged house. It had clearly been a very large and impressive property before the bombing. He said he was only about 10 years old and it was too tempting to miss going inside. He said he clambered all over what was left of the house upstairs and downstairs to investigate. Then he went down into a cellar. It was partially damaged and some of the flooring had become loose. Underneath there was a hidden recess. Now he was excited and inside he found this painting along with some trinkets and some coins. They were quite poor as his father was dead and his mother was struggling to keep them fed, so he gathered up all the items and carried them home to show her.
His mother was not so happy. She was really worried at what he had done, but was too frightened for him to make him take it back, in case he was caught and arrested for looting. She was thankful for the money, but decided to keep the painting hidden. Years later, in England, I remember it being hung on the wall at home. So, it was now willed to me. All the colours had darkened, so I decided it needed some renovation. When I took the back off, I was amazed to see there were some papers inside and a number of old photographs. It was an inventory of paintings and other works of art that had been compiled for insurance purposes. There was also a short letter mentioning his family and the name of someone who was separately keeping safe for him, detailed provenance information for each painting. The owner had the name Adam Talman and the address was in a wealthy suburb of Berlin – which was clearly where my father had found it. The inventory had a dazzling array of paintings by well-known artists and items of silver. I have no idea what happened to them all, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they had also been hidden in the cellar. It looks to me that Adam Talman was probably a rich Jewish businessman who had fled during the Nazi persecution and hidden his wealth under his house in the hope of coming back for it later. As we all know now, the likelihood of that was very slim, as vast amounts of valuable Jewish possessions ended up being sold at a fraction of their value or simply stolen. This particular item does not really belong to me and if some of his family turned out to be some of the fortunate survivors, I want to try and find them and return the painting to them. But I don’t think I can do this alone, and am hoping you might use your expertise to help me. So I’ve written down everything I know as a brief for you.
However, there is another strand to this story. I used my contacts and data sources to see if I could find whether any of the listed items might have appeared on the fine art auction market since the War. It’s a big job as there have been countless auctions since then. It helped that Talman was very meticulous. He had the title and date neatly marked on the back of this painting. From what I’ve found out, he did the same for the others, because the picture titles I have managed to unearth in the auction catalogues are pretty much identical. I mentioned that the painting provenance information, which contained the description of each work and a crucial chronological catalogue of its previous owners, was being held by someone else. His name was Oscar Keller. Talman wanted to keep this information separate from the paintings, which meant that new provenance would have needed to be fraudulently created if the paintings were to be sold on at anything like their proper market value. My initial search of publicly available data sources started to identify a number of the paintings. When I speak to you, I’ll let you know what else I have done. What I can say is that someone took possession of the portfolio and released a good proportion of them onto the open market after the War. There have not been many sales of additional paintings in recent years, although some of the earlier sales have changed hands again. I’m enclosing a copy of the list itself, but also a record of related auction activity, which you’ll see is substantial. We’re talking about auctions in multiple locations including Berlin, Munich and Leipzig in Germany, but also in Milan, Rome and London. The sellers are usually anonymous, but through my contacts, I have managed to identify some of them. They may be a front for the real “owners”, but this is a starting position and now I really need some help to move forward. This looks like a big operation and the sums of money we are talking about are in the millions. I think there is a serious organisation at work here and if you’re interested, I’d welcome your professional advice on what to do next. Ring me when you’ve received and digested this and we can discuss.
Yours
Martin
Clive swept aside the other mail and started reading the enclosed papers. This really was exciting him and he had already been sucked in.
* * *
Adolf Hitler and the fledgeling National Socialists held the very first of their meetings promoting his menacing political philosophy, at the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl beer hall in Munich in 1920. The philosophy that would unleash fear and mayhem, and leave a stain on the face of Europe for decades to come, would have enormous repercussions on the families of two men who had died only a few years before this fateful meeting.
Anton Krause was a distinguished German army officer who had died at the Battle of Verdun in 1916.
Reuben Talman was a Jewish furrier in Poland, who had died during the Great Influenza Pandemic in 1918.
They were from completely different backgrounds and never met. What was not different was the ambition they had had for thei
It was nearly a hundred years before the connection between them was revealed, and for the enormity of the associated ramifications to unfold.
PART I
THREE HISTORIES
1 ADAM TALMAN
Adam Talman had provided a good living for his family since coming from Poland in 1924. Like many Polish Jews, he had taken the gamble to move his business to Germany, and Berlin was his destination. Reports were coming back to the Warsaw community of the many successes. An estimated 50,000 would eventually make the journey. It had been a big decision. He thought it would be harder for his new wife Rebekah. He often wondered what she had seen in him to want to marry him. And when he told her of his plan, she did not hesitate to agree to follow him wherever he wanted to go. He knew he was a very fortunate man and it would be easier knowing he could rely on her unwavering strength behind him.
He had helped his father, Reuben, build up his fur business.
Reuben had been designing and selling fur goods for many years. He had a shop in an attractive part of Warsaw, but also sold to the top department stores. He had great respect for the history of furs; the development of techniques and designs over many centuries and had marvelled at how on earth someone had discovered how tannic acid from tree bark could soften the hides. He loved his profession and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, like his father and his father before him. So that he would fully understand the business, he had sent him from an early age to respected contacts and associates to learn all aspects of the trade from skinning, cleaning, tanning and sewing. He must become a master of his trade. He must distinguish the quality and value of the more luxurious pelts like sable, ermine, mink and white and silver fox. But he should also know the place for marmot, squirrel, red fox, beaver and even rabbit in making more affordable items. He should know the techniques and options for adding trims to outer clothing such as hems, cuffs, pockets to make them more fashionable and to be able to offer scarves and muffs of animal pelts. He also needed to know how to manage a production line of skilled sewers. He needed to keep up-to-date with fashion trends. He must control the supply chain of good quality furs from Russia and the forests of Poland. All of these Adam had mastered.
Then a family disaster had struck. Reuben and his wife Hinda, both lost their lives in the horrific Spanish Flu Pandemic, and Adam was thrust into running the business himself. He spent many hours taking stock of their situation and considering what might be best for their future. Over the next few years, they had often discussed the positives and the drawbacks of their options.
Since the new independent state of Poland had emerged after the First World War, Talman had seen a war with Russia and then millions of additional Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews drawn into the new borders, and who felt alienated by the drive to instil Polish identity, culture and language. He observed increasingly chaotic political instability, which never seemed to be resolved and he was not optimistic for the future.
Meanwhile in 1923 in Germany, the Weimar government had turned a corner by issuing a completely new currency to address the rampant inflation. By early 1924, their economy was already stabilising and Talman had come to the conclusion that their future looked to be brighter in the much larger metropolis of Berlin.
Their contacts in the Jewish community in Warsaw had yielded many useful contacts in Berlin, and now was the moment to follow them up. One of these was Henryk Reitman, who owned a department store near to Potsdammer Platz. He and his wife, Lila, had generously invited Adam and Rebekah to their home in an affluent district of Charlottenburg for a few days to discuss their possibilities, and to identify suitable premises for a shop, and for warehousing and production. The Reitmans were only too aware from their own experience of the benefit of helpful advice from the Jewish community. The Reitmans arranged dinner with another two couples, the Fishmans and the Hellers. Adam explained his background and experience and what he intended to achieve in Berlin. He would be focusing on designing and selling high quality fur items, but to achieve this he would need to be confident of the reliable supply chain necessary to meet the needs of his manufacturing base. Jerzy Fishman was very optimistic for Adam. ‘The upper classes, and especially the fashion and entertainment society, can never have enough furs and the middle classes are becoming more affluent and joining them. The men want a fur coat to the office, another for the evening and another one for sport; and the women always need more choice in their wardrobes.’
By the end of the evening, they knew they would be welcome in Berlin and could rely on these families for any support they might need whilst developing their business.
‘After breakfast tomorrow, Adam, I want to show you around my own premises and then we’ll look at some of the options you have for the premises you will need.’ said Henryk.
‘And Rebekah, you and I can go and look at where you’re going to live!’ said Lila.
So, the next day was very busy as they set off first to tour Henryk’s department store. He was impressed by the sheer variety of items on sale. He also noted how well Henryk seemed to get on with his staff. Occasionally he was asked for his advice on a product or a customer and responded in a respectful way, and not as an aloof owner.
‘This is the way I want to treat staff. I’m liking him more all the time’ thought Adam.
They happened to walk past a smartly dressed area selling furs, so, of course, they stopped to inspect. ‘I like some of these, Henryk, but maybe you could extend the range?’
‘I’d certainly like your advice on that, Adam. I don’t profess to be a big expert on fur fashions and quality. I think there will be scope for you here.’ he said with a nod.
After an hour, they went for tea in his office.
‘I’m really impressed, Henryk. I hope I can be even a part way as successful as you’ve been.’
‘I’m sure you will, Adam. When looking at properties, we must consider the need to cope with expansion. My first premises were too small and I wasted much time negotiating and then needing to move. In fact, that was what gave me the idea of a department store. I took on something bigger than I needed and used some of the space to sell various household items. It became so popular that I took the plunge, borrowed money and obtained a much bigger space and filled the new premises with a whole array of goods, which immediately started to sell well.’
Then they walked across to Krausenstraße. They were there in fifteen minutes.
‘I think this is the right area for you to have a shop, Adam. It’s a smart, popular area and you will soon become well known here among the clothing retailers.’
They noticed several unused shop fronts. All would be ideal and Adam noted down the contact details.
Henryk also seemed happy with them.
‘I know these people. We can contact them and sort something later.’
Then they walked the few hundred metres to Hausvogteiplatz to look for a possible warehouse and production shop. It was right in the heart of the Mitte district of Berlin.
‘This is where all the Jewish clothing production is based and I’m sure, to start with, you’ll find opportunities for space on short term rental until your business settles down. They all know what it’s like to start with, and will look after you.’
By the end of the day, they had identified a suitable site for a small manufacturing capability with enough warehousing for his existing stock and to allow for some growth. The next day he would sign up for both locations.
Meanwhile, the ladies were sorting out a first dream home in Berlin for them. Rebekah had identified a modest but lovely apartment in Wilmersdorf with the helpful company of Lila.
The Reitmans had both been so helpful to them and they would never have progressed so far without this help.
‘Rebekah, they are such kind people. I already feel they are firm friends.’
Even now he had good supply contacts and he expected to add to these very quickly in the big city. There were now over 100,000 Jews in Berlin, so he was confident he would make his business succeed.
