Faustian Bargain by Petropoulos Jonathan;

Author:Petropoulos, Jonathan;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2000-11-12T05:00:00+00:00

Hermann Göring, Kurt von Behr, and Hermann Bunjes (in white cap) leaving Jeu de Paume after making selection from ERR confiscated art, 1941 (NA).

The life and career of Hermann Bunjes represents the gradual corruption of an art historian. Of course, like Mühlmann and Holst, those who subscribed to the Nazi worldview were probably inclined toward criminal behavior. Bunjes’s racism and his nationalism helped lead him to support Göring and Himmler in the implementation of their programs. But there was also his own personal ambition. This was not for wealth—Bunjes received modest salaries for his various positions (for example, RM 600 per month for head of the Art History Research Institute).275 Rather, he sought academic accolades and advancement, which he received within the Nazi-controlled scholarly establishment. After the war, American investigators asked Robert Scholz and Bruno Lohse about Bunjes and reported “both are agreed that Bunjes is a man of fantastic ambition, who wished to become the leading figure in the arts in Germany. Scholz is certain that Bunjes wished to become German Minister of Culture.”276 Bunjes also appears to have been tremendously impressed by the Nazi leaders and their display of power. Lynn Nicholas identified this as a source of motivation when she wrote, “officers who at heart condemned the confiscations were still dazzled enough to betray their consciences. This was certainly true of Dr. Bunjes.”277

Yet Hermann Bunjes ultimately became conscious of his immoral behavior. The most telling evidence of this came at war’s end when American MFA & A officers Robert Posey and Lincoln Kirstein apprehended him in Trier. Nicholas described the events, as told to her by Kirstein,

The house was decorated with photographs of French monuments, undoubtedly from the documentation project undertaken by the German Institute in Paris. Bunjes, who in a very short time poured forth volumes of information—including the existence of Altaussee—did not fail to mention that he had once studied at Harvard and, now that the war was over, would like to work for the Americans. It also soon appeared that he would even more like to have a safe-conduct for himself and his family to Paris so that he could finish his research on the twelfth-century sculpture of the Ile de France. In the course of these outpourings he confided that he had been in the SS and now feared retribution from other Germans. Posey and Kirstein, who as yet knew little of the machinations of the ERR, found him rather charming, but could offer him nothing, and left. Charm had masked desperation: after a subsequent interrogation, Bunjes shot himself, his wife, and his child.278

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