I. Buildings Integral to the Former Life and/or Persecution of Jews in Hamburg - Neustadt/St. Pauli. Glockengießerwall. Hamburger Kunsthalle (Gallery of Art). The Hamburg avant-garde "Sezession" Movement. "entartete Kunst" ("Degenerate Art"). Anita Rče. Many modern works of art that the Hamburg Kunsthalle (Gallery of Art) acquired or exhibited between 1918 and 1933 did not correspond to the Nazi idea of "German" art, and were attacked in the national socialist press. On coming to power the Nazis capitalized on the fact that the director of the Kunsthalle, Gustav Pauli, had passed the age of retirement, and on the 30th September 1933 they retired him. Gustav Pauli had acquired works from the artist Nolde, from the Hamburg Sezessionists, and many other works of art that were classified by the Nazis as "entartete Kunst" ("degenerate art"). Alma del Banco, Willy Davidson, Kurt Löwengard, Anita Rče and Gretchen Wohlwill are the most renown of the Jewish artists who were members of the avant-garde "Sezession" group. In order to discredit Pauli the Nazis spread the rumour that he was married to a "Halbjüdin" (half Jewess), already in 1933 a ground for many "good Germans" to make intrigue and to defame individuals. When the new director of the Kunsthalle, Harald Busch, did not comply to the Nazi definition of art, and for example exhibited paintings by the Jewish artist Max Liebermann, in the Autumn of 1934, the "Volkische Beobachter", the Nazi campaign paper, took the offensive with the headline "Hamburg - Hochburg der entarteten Kunst!" ("Hamburg - Stronghold of Degenerate Art!"). Harald Busch was dismissed. He had been a Nazi Party member from 1931 onward but was not prepared to concede to the asinine Nazi "volkisch" view of art. His successor was an SS-Untersturmbannführer who saw that many paintings were removed to the depository. In the summer of 1937 a commission arrived from Berlin to impound works of "entartete Kunst" ("degenerate art") in the gallery and depository, and to take them to Berlin. The majority of these works of art are lost and were probably destroyed. Already in 1933, various wall paintings of the Jewish artist Anita Rče's were painted over by the Nazis. Her paintings were not seized and destroyed by the Berlin commission in 1937 as the janitor was able to conceal them, in the depository of the Kunsthalle. The kunsthalle lost more than over 1,000 paintings, watercolours, drawings, etchings, woodcuts, lithographs and sculptures by this action. The management of the Kunsthalle did not prevent this action , however, in 1938 the museum was not prepared to exhibit the Nazi propaganda show "Entartete Kunst". In 1941, four paintings by the Jewish artist Max Liebermann were sold, and another had previously been exchanged. In the Second World War the works of art were stored in bunkers for safekeeping. Today artists of the "Sezession" movement again have a secure position in the Kunsthalle. The works of art destroyed through the barbarbarous action of the Nazis are lost forever. Anita Rče: Anita Rče, Self-Portrait. Genius and failure, happiness and despair - no other Hamburg artist lived and suffered these emotions as Anita Rče did, in the first half of the 20th century. She was born on 9th February 1885 to a wealthy businessman's family , Jewish by birth, protestant-Lutheran by confession, and a convicted citizen of Hamburg. Apart from the renown educationalist Anton Rče, her family on her father's side were predominantly engaged in trade and shipping. Her mother was Venezuelan. Anita Rče's artistic talent was early recognized and fully encouraged. The family could conceive of her as the amateur artistic lady from the better society, but when, from 1905 onward, she seriously attempted to obtain an artistic training and a professional artist, she ran up against reservations and finally refusal by the family. A daughter from a good family did not become an artist; she became a good marriage prospect. She was able to set up a small studio under the roof of her parents house but, probably as a punishment, her art was practically never referred to by her family. This nurtured her existing self doubt, that was to plague her her entire life. She had the fear of solitude following the unrequited love of a fellow artist. A six month stay in Paris in 1912/1913 brought her a new artistic impetus, and recognition came shortly thereafter. In 1913, she had her first shared exhibition. Initially, press criticism was predominantly negative, but in artistic circles she found recognition and from hereon belonged to the avant-garde. The search for a permanent relationship in her life failed, according to friends, because of her unrealistic expectations. However, she compensated for this disappointment by having a wide cicle of friends. The banker and artist family Warburg belonged to this circle as did the poet Richard Dehmel, and his wife Ida. Anita Rče was commissioned to paint numerous portraits, in 1919 she was a founding member of the avant-garde "Hamburgische Sezession" group of artists, and her work was exhibited in numerous exhibitions. She, however, remained sensitive to every criticism and the rejection of certain paintings for exhibition. In 1922, she undertook a three year artistic journey through Italy. This was one of her most creative periods and, for example, the painting "Teresina", portaying a girl holding lemons standing in front of luxurious banana plants, was painted. When, in 1925, she returned to Hamburg, she had become a highly respected artist and she could finally afford to move out of her parental home. She changed her accommodation frequently, and her swings of mood, from complete happiness to deep despair, even more fequently. The renown city architect Fritz Schumacher awarded her two commissions for wall paintings in schools. In 1929 she painted the biblical story of the "wise and foolish virgins" for the women's staffroom of the Uferstraße vocational school. It triggered a violent conflict even before it was finished for the sole reason that the bare breasts offended the prudery of the female staff. There was a positive reaction from the other side. The next wall painting, "Orpheus und die Tiere", in the gymnasium of the Caspar-Voght-Straße School, met with unanimus enthusiasm. The peaceful cohabitation of the animals awoke hope of a better world in those gloomy times. However, Anita Rče, who saw herself as a harrassed deer, was hit hard by the initial criticism of the first wall painting. The situation became more difficult when her triptych, for the altar of the newly built St. Ansgar church in Langenhorn, was rejected by the church council and an art expert. It was considered that the church members would never accept the depiction of the last supper, with the disciples helpless and denying in face of His predicted death. The church members never got to see the triptych. Antisemitism probably played a role in the rejection of the work, which hit the Christian Anita Rče very hard. The triptych was never placed in the church and, in the summer of 1932, Anita Rče decided to leave Hamburg and take refuge on the island of Sylt (a North Sea island off the mainland where Germany borders Denmark). She lived there in unheated rooms, solitary and constantly worried she did not have enough money to survive. She considered once again fleeing abroad but was afraid she did not have enough money for such a plan. On 12th December 1933, she took her own life. To the surprize of her friends she left a small fortune. The exclusion she felt as an avant-garde Jewish artist and the fear of persecution, solitariness and financial worries had driven her into a hopeless situation. Her wall paintings were painted over by the Nazis, her work was no longer exhibited. Many of her paintings have been lost or are scattered around the world. It is to the credit of the many years of committment by the art historian Maike Bruhns that Anita Rče's paintings are again more frequently to be seen in exhibitions, and that her wall paintings have been restored.