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Karl Haberstock

1878 – 1956

German art dealer, WWII art looter

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About Karl Haberstock

Lived 1878 – 1956 (aged 78). Karl Haberstock was a German art dealer.

Karl Haberstock (born 19 June 1878 in Augsburg; died 6 September 1956 in Munich) was a Berlin art dealer who trafficked in Nazi-looted art. Haberstock's name appears 60 times in the Art Looting Investigation Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945–1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index.

Aryanization Among Haberstock's many spoliation activities documented by the ALIU was the aryanization, with the assistance of Baron von Poellnitz and Roger Louis Adolphe Dequoy, of the Wildenstein firm which then continued to trade.

According to historian Jonathan Petropoulos "Haberstock, despite selling works to Göring and other Nazi elite, owed his status to Hitler alone."

Arrest for Nazi art looting At the end of World War II Haberstock was arrested for his Nazi art looting activities, however he testified against Hermann Göring at the Nuremberg Trials and was subsequently released. In the 1950s he opened a gallery in Munich living in the apartment below that of the director of Göring's art collection, Walter Andreas Hofer.

Haberstock's role in trafficking artworks looted from Jews was not generally known until reports that had been classified secret were published at the end of the twentieth century, in particular the ALIU Final Report

Donations to Augsburg Haberstock donated forty paintings to the Augsburg Municipal Art Museum in Augsburg. Haberstock's portrait (shown in this entry) hangs prominently in the city's leading art museum, the Schaezlerpalais, and a minor residential street bears his name. After the declassification of the intelligence reports on Nazi looting, however, the museum was criticized for "glorifying" a notorious Nazi looted art dealer. “What we have here is a museum that glorifies the most notorious Nazi art dealer,” says Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, who has demanded that the local cultural authorities strip the galleries of grateful references to the Haberstock Foundation.

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Important facts

Birth century
Occupation
Nationality
Employers
Adolf Hitler

People in Karl Haberstock's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Karl Haberstock's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Karl Haberstock?

German art dealer, WWII art looter (1878-1956)

When was Karl Haberstock born?

Karl Haberstock was born on 19 June 1878 in Augsburg.

When did Karl Haberstock die?

Karl Haberstock died on 6 September 1956 in Munich.

What was Karl Haberstock's occupation?

Karl Haberstock was an art dealer.

What nationality was Karl Haberstock?

Karl Haberstock was German.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Karl Haberstock

· Wikidata: Q1731388

· DBpedia: Karl Haberstock

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Karl Haberstock. https://biography.guide/karl-haberstock/

MLA: "Karl Haberstock." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/karl-haberstock/.

Chicago: "Karl Haberstock." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/karl-haberstock/.

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