Editor’s Note
Christie’s has cancelled the second part of a controversial jewelry auction featuring the collection of the late Austrian heiress Heidi Horten. The decision follows significant criticism over the origins of the Horten fortune, which has historical links to the Nazi era.
The auction house Christie’s has cancelled the second part of a controversial sale of jewelry belonging to the late Austrian billionaire heiress Heidi Horten. A long shadow from the Nazi era hangs over the fortune of the department store heiress, who passed away last year. This already sparked sharp criticism surrounding the first part of the Horten auction, which proceeded in Geneva in May – and for this reason, according to Christie’s, the auction will not continue as previously planned in November.
The trade publication “The Art Newspaper,” among others, quoted Anthea Peers, Christie’s President for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
The “New York Times” (“NYT”) spoke of an “intense review” the company faced from Jewish organizations and some collectors, reminding readers, as did other media, that jewelry worth $202 million (€186 million) was auctioned in the May sale titled “The World of Heidi Horten.”
Despite donations promised by Christie’s for Holocaust research in this context, the auction caused ongoing turbulence. “The sale became a public relations nightmare for the auction house,” as the online portal Artnet writes.
According to reports, not only did significant clients like Cathy Lasry, wife of US billionaire Marc Lasry, complain about the procedure. There were also accusations of whitewashing. According to Artnet, the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem also rejected the donation proposed by Christie’s. Furthermore, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art cancelled a Christie’s-organized event on the topic of restitution in connection with criticism of the Horten auction.
Horten, who died last year at the age of 81, left behind an estimated fortune of around €2.6 billion, including a jewelry collection comprising around 700 pieces, according to the business magazine “Forbes.” According to the newspaper “Der Standard,” a foundation established by Horten in Vaduz in 2020 is behind the sale. The newspaper further reported that the foundation planned “to finance various ‘philanthropic projects’ with the proceeds, including the private museum in Vienna.”
However, the auction not only highlighted Horten’s role as a wealthy patron but also the origin of her wealth and thus the role of her husband Helmut Horten, who died in 1987, during the National Socialist era.
According to a historian’s report published in January 2022, the German “department store king” was a member of the NSDAP (Nazi Party) for an extended period. In 1936, three years after the Nazis seized power, he took over the Alsberg textile department store in Duisburg at the age of 27 after its Jewish owners had fled. Later, he took over other businesses that had previously been owned by Jewish proprietors.
He was therefore accused of being a profiteer from the “Aryanization” of Jewish businesses during the Nazi era. Numerous Jewish organizations consequently called for a halt to the jewelry auction to clarify to what extent Horten’s wealth rightfully belongs to persecuted Jews and their descendants.
According to media reports, Christie’s was also sharply criticized for apparently not initially disclosing the Nazi background of Horten’s wealth. Holocaust survivor David Schaecter, President of the Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation (HSF) USA, welcomed the now-announced cancellation of the second Horten auction as an important victory for the Jewish community.
Furthermore, the decision is a “signal to all auction houses about the consequences of selling – as he called it – tainted goods,” as the “NYT” further reports, citing Schaecter’s statement.