Eduard von der Heydt

Eduard Freiherr von der Heydt (September 26, 1882 – April 3, 1964) was a German and Swiss banker, art collector and patron.

Biography He was born in Elberfeld, Germany, and died in Ascona, Switzerland. Heydt served in the Imperial German Army during World War I. He was badly wounded from a gunshot wound to the stomach, an injury that caused complications for the rest of his life. In 1919, he married Vera von Schwabach (1899–1996), daughter of the Berlin banker . The marriage ended in divorce in 1927; there were no children. Vera later became a prominent Jungian analyst in London.

Heydt's collections were the basis for the creation of the Museum Rietberg in Zürich, Switzerland. He was also the former owner of Monte Verità, a well-known site of many different Utopian and cultural events and communities, which upon his death became the property of the Swiss Canton of Ticino. He was a member of the NSDAP until he became a Swiss citizen in 1937 and left the party in 1939. After the Second World War, he was arrested for treason for his handling of payment transactions for the German intelligence service under Wilhelm Canaris. Heydt was acquitted in 1948. Unconvinced of his innocence, the U.S. government confiscated all of Heydt's American bank deposits as well as his works of art, transferring them to the Buffalo Museum of Science as "enemy assets" under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

Heydt described art using the term "ars una", an all-encompassing art that appreciates diversity as it is found throughout the world.

Ancestry

Ancestry of Eduard Freiherr von der Heydt Great-Great GrandparentsDaniel Heinrich von der Heydt(1767–1832)∞ 1794 Wilhelmine Kersten(1771–1854)Johann Wilhelm Blank(1773–1846)∞ 1796 Sibilla Helene Simons (1776–1839)Johann Peter Boeddinghaus(1751–1826)∞ 1778 Maria Helene Funcke (1760–1824)Johann Abraham Siebel(1773–1830)∞ 1796 Isabella Margaretha Siebel (1775–1844)Johann Kaspar Haarhaus(1749–1828)∞ 1784 Anna Christina Bargmann (1760–1802)Johann Peter Bargmann(1774–1852)∞ 1798 Ida Baltz (1780–1863)Johann Jakob Aders(1768–1825)∞ 1793 Anna Helene Brink (1770–1844)Johann Peter Boeddinghaus(1788–1837)∞ 1813 Amalia Middendorf (1793–1823)Great GrandparentsAugust Freiherr von der Heydt(1801–1874)∞ 1824 Julie Blank (1804–1865)Karl Heinrich Boeddinghaus (1797–1872)∞ 1823 Sophie Siebel (1802–1885)Jacob Wilhelm Haarhaus (1798–1881)∞ 1830 Johanna Sophie Bargmann (1803–1872)Alfred Aders (1809–1880)∞ 1835 Bertha Boeddinghaus (1814–1891)GrandparentsAugust von der Heydt (1825–1867)∞ 1849 Maria Helene Boeddinghaus (1828–1899)Gustav Haarhaus (1831–1911)∞ 1860 Ida Auguste Aders (1838–1876)ParentsAugust von der Heydt (1851–1929)∞ 1880 Selma Haarhaus (1862–1944)Eduard Freiherr von der Heydt (1882–1964)

Works

Eduard von der Heydt/Werner von Rheinbaben: Auf dem Monte Verità. Erinnerungen und Gedanken über Menschen, Kunst und Politik, Atlantis, Zürich 1958.