Professor Curt Glaser was an art historian and Director of the Berlin State Art Library. He was also a medical doctor, and served in WWI with the German army. After marrying Else Kolker, he became interested in art. He collected both old master art works, impressionist and expressionist art works, and was an early supporter and collector of Edvard Munch. Glaser wrote several important books regarding art including “Zwei Jahrhunderte deutscher Malerei (Two Hundred Years of German Art)” in 1916, “Die Kunst Ostasiens (East Asian Art)” in 1920, “Edvard Munch” in 1922, “Die Graphic der Neuzeit (New Graphic Art),” in 1922, and was a frequent contributor to German newspapers regarding contemporary art exhibitions.. His apartment in the Prinz Albrecht Street was an important meeting place and salon for the cultural intellectuals of Berlin.

Glaser’s fortunes changed with Hitler’s rise to power. He lost his position as Director of the Berlin State Art Library due to a Nazi law forbidding Jews to hold German civil servant positions. His apartment was taken over by the Gestapo, who used the Prinz Albrecht Street building for their headquarters. His first wife Else died in 1932, and he then married Maria Milch, a Berlin singer, in 1933. In preparation for his flight from Germany, Glaser sold many of his possessions (including the Corinth painting) in auctions in May of 1933 and left Berlin for good in the summer of 1933. He then lived as an exile from Germany, mostly in Switzerland, until he eventually he arrived in New York where he died in 1943.

Following WWII, Glaser’s widow, Maria Milch, claimed the loss of his art collection which had been sold in the May 1933 sales and received a small compensation for its loss. The decision to return the Corinth painting “Roemisches Campagne” was reached after a thorough historical review of the matter, taking into account Glaser’s loss of his position due to Nazi persecution, his opposition to Hitler, and the necessity of his flight from Germany.

The heirs of Curt Glaser wish to thank the City of Hannover for returning the painting and for their courtesy and professionalism in handling of the matter.


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