Marmorek, Hugo

Hugo Marmorek

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2 July 1885 Vienna – 25 January 1953 Detroit, USA

also Hugo Madison; from late 1941 also Howard Madison, Hovard Madison, Howard Victor Madison

The engineer Hugo Marmorek, who from 1932 had a workshop for electrical appliances and technical articles at Brucknerstraße 4 in Vienna's 4th district, had married for a second time in 1926 to Felice Therese (née Monath), member of an art-loving family, and was registered with her until 1 October 1938 at Schellinggasse 12/8 in the 1st district. He was also awarded a patent in 1936 for an oil-firing system and oil burner and worked in that year as a technical consultant. As he and his family were considered Jews, they were confronted after the annexation of Austria to the German Reich by increasing persecution from the Nazi regime. After his wife died on 25 May 1938, Marmorek fled with his daughter Helga Marietta Marmorek that year to London. From there he travelled in 1941 to the USA, where he later obtained US citizenship. Before his flight, he applied to export his extensive art collection consisting primarily of oil paintings and graphic works by major Austrian and European artists, some of which were already owned by the Monath family. The Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz (Central Monument Protection Authority) rejected Marmorek's application on 24 June 1938 with the exception of four pictures. Three days later, Amatus Caurairy, a Vienna-based art dealer, sworn expert and assessor, estimated the value of the oil paintings and watercolours from the collection. In a second decision of 16 August 1938, the Central Monument Protection Authority once again prohibited the export of the works. At this time the Marmorek art collection, including paintings by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Rudolf von Alt and Josef Kriehuber, and also one by Rudolf Matthias Toma entitled View over Vienna, were stored in a depot of the Vienna transport company Caro & Jellinek. Their whereabouts during the rest of the Nazi era have not been established to date. Some of the furniture from the Marmorek apartment in Schellinggasse was taken over at the end of 1938 by the Evangelischer Oberkirchenrat in the same building. By order of the Vienna Gestapo, the assets of Marmorek and his daughter, including properties, silverware, jewellery and other assets, were forfeited to the German Reich in 1941.

From 1947 Marmorek, who had changed his name to Madison, made claims for restitution, ending in a settlement in the case of the properties. The Bundesdenkmalamt (Federal Monuments Authority) also agreed to the export in 1948 of the watercolour Portrait of Count Khevenhüller by Josef Kriehuber, which was stored with the Viennese transport company Kühner & Sohn. From 1948 until his death in 1953 he sought to export the work by Toma to the USA, which was refused on account of the picture's historico-cultural and topographical significance. At the instigation of the Federal Monuments Authority, the picture was presented for viewing to the Österreichische Galerie in 1948 and its particular historico-cultural relevance confirmed by director Karl Garzarolli-Thurnlackh, who also expressed an interest in purchasing it. In 1952 Marmorek gave it to the industrialist Alfred B. Lohner, who presumably put it up for sale. It was not until the failed export application by Edith Westel in 1967, at this time owner of one of several works by Toma with the title View of Vienna, to Canada and a renewed viewing by director Fritz Novotny that the Österreichische Galerie acquired the painting. In 2016 the Art Restitution Advisory Board failed to recommend the restitution of the work by the Österreichische Galerie to the legal successors of Hugo Madison, because it was in his possession after 1945 and the identity of the painting could not be unequivocally determined, as there were several variants of the same subject. Moreover, the acquisition took place by a third party years after the restitution.

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Publications about the person / institution

Beschluss des Kunstrückgabebeirats, Hugo Marmorek, URL: www.provenienzforschung.gv.at/beiratsbeschluesse/Marmorek_Hugo_2016-04-01.pdf (3.12.2020).

Georg Gaugusch, Wer einmal war. Das jüdische Großbürgertum Wiens 1800–1938. L–R (= Jahrbuch der Heraldisch-Genealogischen Gesellschaft Adler, 3. Folge 17), Wien 2016.

N. N., von Alt , Rudolf. Landschaft mit Ruine Rauhenstein in Niederösterreich (Landschaft mit Ruine Rauhenstein von Westen, Kutsche mit Insassen auf einer Straße), in: Kunstverwaltung des Bundes, Provenienzdatenbank.Bund, URL: kunstverwaltung.bund.de/SharedDocs/Provenienzen/DE/2000_2999/2399_17.html?nn=485758 (3.12.2020).

N. N., [Sterbedaten von Howard Madison], in: The Gazette. Official Public Record, URL: www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/40199/supplement/3443 (3.12.2020).

Archives

Archiv der Österreichischen Galerie Belvedere, Zl. 497/1948; Zl. 1463/1967; Dr. Julius Monath, Zl. 538/1912, Zl. 490/1922.

Archiv der Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, Gewerbeakt, Hugo Marmorek.

BDA-Ausfuhr, Zl. 2005/38; Zl. 4402/38; Zl. 8565/48; Zl. 9285/48; Zl. 10154/48; Zl. 214/49; Zl. 816/49; Zl. 4093/50; Zl. 536/54, Hugo Marmorek.

BArch Koblenz, Treuhandverwaltung von Kulturgut B 323/476.

Evangelische Kirche in Österreich, Kirchenamt A.B., Registratur, Zl. Präs 3 - 2879/48.

NARA, Staatsbürgerschaftsentziehungsbogen in den National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, DC; Name Index of Jews Whose German Nationality Was Annulled by the Nazi Regime (Berlin Documents Center); Record Group: 242, National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, 1675 - 1958; Record Group ARC ID: 569; Publication Number: T355; Roll: 6, Lewinsohn, Martha Anna (Neumann) – Mosbacher, Hanna.

OeStA/AdR, E-uReang, VVSt, VA 32443, Hugo Marmorek.
OeStA/AdR, E-uReang, VVSt, VA 15982, Verlassenschaft nach Felice Marmorek.

WStLA, Historische Wiener Meldeunterlagen, Meldeauskunft Hugo Marmorek.
WStLA, M.Abt. 119, A41, VEAV 286N, 1. Bez.; 879 und 290, 9. Bez., 519, 10. Bez.; 25, 18. Bez.; 839 und 53, 19/26 Bez., Rose Nachfolger: Brüder Meisels, Hugo Meisels und Familie.