Controversial “Flick” Collection in the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum in Berlin

Friedrich Christian Flick is the billionaire heir of a giant industrial empire founded by his grandfather, Friedrich Flick, profiteer and war criminal, who was one of the major arms suppliers to the Nazi regime during World War II. He is also remembered for exploiting over 50,000 Jewish forced labourers in his factories.

Likewise, the Flick family has built up a significant and unique collection of contemporary art with the benefits derived from the disreputable legacy of the family business. Sprinkled with the biggest names in the contemporary art world, this valuable collection will be exhibited at the Hamburg Station Museum in Berlin until December 31st.

In a span of seven years, since 2004 more than 2000 works have been shown, occupying a total exhibition space of 13,000 square meters. These works include pieces by the internationally renowned American artist Bruce Naumann, Donald Judo, master of minimalist art, Sol le Wit, conceptual artist, Georg Baselitz and Gerhard Richter, to name a few.

However, this magnificent collection, which has an estimated value of 300 million euros, was not welcomed by everyone. On the contrary, this exhibit caused much controversy and outrage especially within the Jewish community, since “mega-collectionist” refused to continue paying workers compensation to survivors of his grandfather’s atrocities, though he had been sentenced to seven years in prison in the Nürnberg trials for having committed great crimes against humanity under the Nazis.

In unison the critics put an emphasis on the bloody origins of the financial funds which made this lush collection possible, and affirmed that neither the German government nor the artistic community should close their eyes to the atrocities of the past so as to allow for its validation in the art world.

Friedrich Flick, senior was the fifth richest man in the world when he died, and never showed remorse. And so as this collection is on the table once again, the debate about memory and German responsibility for their Nazi past once again heats up. If you want to make your own opinion on this controversial exhibition, rent apartments in Berlin and visit the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum later this year.

Tags: berlin Friedrich Christian, Exhibit, exhibit flick museum berlin, flick museum, nazi Hamburger Bahnhof