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Nazi SA paramilitaries outside the N. Israel’s Department Store in Berlin in 1933. Their signs read: “Germans! Defend yourselves! Don’t buy from Jews.” (Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-14469 / CC-BY-SA 3.0)

NAZI ORIGINS OF HEIDI HORTEN’S FORTUNE
CREATES CONTROVERSY OVER CHRISTIE’S AUCTION

 

The sale by Christie’s this May of the more than 700-piece jewelry collection of the late Austrian socialite, Heidi Horten, has garnered more publicity than its organizers evidently expected – and much of it less than complimentary. This is because of news reports that Horten’s first husband, the German department store magnate Helmut Horten, had acquired much of his wealth by buying at basement prices the businesses of Jews who had been forced to liquidate them by the Nazis in the 1930s.

Despite calls from a variety of sources urging Christie’s to cancel the sale, the auction house said it would press on, with the first part, “The World of Heidi Horten: Magnificent Jewels Part I,” starting on May 10, followed by a Part II auction on May 12, and then an online sale. A second online sale will take place later this year, offering the remaining jewels from the collection.

The sale includes diamonds, rubies and jade to outstanding pieces from Bulgari, Cartier, Tiffany, Harry Winston and Van Cleef & Arpels, and is touted to become become one of the largest and most valuable single collection jewelry auctions to date.

In the introduction to the sale on its website, Christie’s insisted that the source of Helmut Horten’s wealth was a matter of public record. “The business practices of Mr. Horten during the Nazi era, when he purchased Jewish businesses sold under duress, are well documented,” it stated.

Helmut Horten, the German entrepreneur who built up and owned the fourth-largest chain of department stores in Germany, Horten AG, in part by buying up at bargain prices the businesses of Jews during the 1930s.

Helmut married Heidi in 1966, when she was 19, and the jewelry collection was built over the years that followed. There is no indication that any of the jewels in the sale were plundered from Jews being persecuted by the Nazi.

All of Heidi Horten’s estate’s proceeds are earmarked to benefit The Heidi Horten Foundation, which was established in 2021 to support the Heidi Horten Collection, as well as medical research, child welfare, and other philanthropic activities that she supported for many decades.

For its part, Christie’s said it will make a significant contribution from its final proceeds of the auction to organizations that further advance Holocaust research and education.


FORCED SALE TO ARYAN OWNERS

Starting with the Nazi’s rise to power in Germany in 1933, Jewish business came under increasing pressure to sell their companies and stock to Aryans, at significantly discounted prices. In 1938, such sales became compulsory, and consequently the prices paid even lower.

According to journalist David de Jong, the author of aa recently published book  entitled “Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany’s Wealthiest Dynasties,” Horten sometimes paid less than 65 percent of the value of the companies he bought.

Among the companies he bought was the Alsberg department store in Duisburg, Germany in 1936, after which he placed advertisement in a Nazi newspaper noting that the business now had “passed into Aryan ownership.”

Among the companies he bought was the Alsberg department store in Duisburg, Germany in 1936, after which he placed advertisement in a Nazi newspaper noting that the business now had “passed into Aryan ownership.”

A Dutch journalist published an affidavit from a Jewish business owner who reported that Horten threatened members of his family with being sent to a concentration camp if they did not agree to sell.

 

APALLED OVER AUCTION HOUSE’S DECISION

Among the industry leaders calling on Christie’s to reconsider the sale was Yoram Dvash, the President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses. In a letter to Francois Curiel, the head of Christie’s Europe, he stated “I would like to express the WFDB’s objection to this sale, so clearly associated with Nazi plunder of Jewish businesses. In a time of Holocaust denial and the resurgence of antisemitism around the world, we find it especially appalling that a world-renowned auction house would engage in such a sale.”

 “Although we are aware that Christie’s has made a concession to the universal public outcry against this auction, by stating that it will make a significant contribution from its final proceeds to Holocaust research and education, we feel it necessary to express our outrage at this auction,” Dvash continued.

“The WFDB strongly requests that if Christie’s insists on holding the Horten auction, that you personally ensure that the major portion of the proceeds be donated by Christie’s to charities supporting the welfare of Holocaust survivors, as well as commemoration and education. For the sake of transparency, we also request that the amount of the contribution and the recipient organizations be announced to the public.”

Heidi Horten, the late Austrian  art aficionado, who married Helmut Horten at age 19 in 1966, and then began building up her formidable collection of jewelry, which is being sold Christies this month.

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