Collection Hans Julius Lebenbaum / Eugen Alexander

Ethnographic object collection, of Nenet, Yakut, Nanai and Nivkh origin, Siberia/Russia. As of the date of the report, 333 of the original 521 objects in the collection have been identified. Created before 1913.

Producer unknown here; Nenet, Yakut, Nanai, Nivkh, Siberia / Russia; [provenance gap]; before 1913 Eugen Alexander, Ethnographic Trader, St. Petersburg / Russia; 1913 Friederike Alexander, bequested by E. Alexander, St. Petersburg / Russia; 1927 Hans Julius Lebenbaum, merchant, Hamburg, purchase; 1927 Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg (now MARKK Hamburg), loan; 1939 Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg (now MARKK Hamburg), transfer

In 1920, the then Museum für Völkerkunde (now MARKK) had the opportunity to acquire more than 500 ethnographic objects from the estate of the St. Petersburg ethnographic dealer Eugen Alexander. The museum director at the time, Georg Thilenius, was able to persuade the Hamburg businessman Hans Julius Lebenbaum (1867-1941), who was active in the trade in grain, to finance the purchase. Lebenbaum initially left the collection to the museum as a formal loan with a prospect of donation. There is no evidence that he did so. Due to his family's Jewish origins in exile in Switzerland, Hans Julius Lebenbaum demanded that the City of Hamburg hand over movable property, including the museum collection, in 1937. In 1939, as a result of an "agreement" reached with the Hamburg Cultural Authority, the collection was transferred to the Museum für Völkerkunde. Hans Julius Lebenbaum died in July 1941 after his arrival in Uruguay.