Continued hostility<\/h3>\n
However, Mayer\u2019s resignation is not enough to stop the attacks from his colleagues, which become openly antisemitic.<\/p>\n
The V\u00f6lkischer Beobachter, the Nazi Party\u2019s official newspaper, describes Mayer as a \u201cJewish art parasite\u201d and \u201cfake expert\u201d. After the Nazis come to power, the Gestapo takes him into \u201cprotective custody\u201d (Schutzhaft) in March 1933. He attempts to take his own life.<\/p>\n
His former boss Friedrich D\u00f6rnh\u00f6ffer is horrified and makes efforts to get Mayer released. Mayer is freed in July 1933.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
![\"Page](\"https:\/\/kunst-raub-rueckgabe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/2009-07-02-080-Helbing-Versteigerungskatalog-Gemaelde-scaled.jpg\" "\\"Auction")
<\/span>Auction catalogue Helbing Auction House, 1933. In the middle is the painting \"Mary with the Child\", which is later restituted.<\/div>
Bayerische Staatsgem\u00e4ldesammlungen<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Left without means<\/h3>\n
The Nazis confiscate Mayer\u2019s property and auction off his furniture and his valuable art collection. As a Jew, he is excluded from the Reichskulturkammer (Reich Chamber of Culture). His professional and private existence in tatters, in 1935 Mayer flees with his family to Paris. With the help of friends, he is able to take his library of books and a few pieces of art with him.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
![\"Elegant](\"https:\/\/kunst-raub-rueckgabe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/B-323-Bild-0311-004-Rue-de-Rivoli-Paris-1940-e1701419072581.jpg\" "\\"Rue")
<\/span>Rue de Rivoli, Paris, 1940.<\/div>
Federal Archives, B 323 Bild-0311-004<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Further persecution in France<\/h2>\n
In Paris the family has an initial respite. Mayer resumes his work as an art expert. He and his family live near the Louvre, in a street parallel to the rue de Rivoli.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
![\"German](\"https:\/\/kunst-raub-rueckgabe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3ztfrgy9-1.png\" "\\"3ztfrgy9\\"")
<\/span>German soldiers in Paris, June 1940. <\/div>
Federal Archives, picture 183-L12796 \/ Heinz Boesig<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
T<\/span>owever, in 1940 the German Wehrmacht invades France.<\/p>\nBecause he is from Germany, Mayer is now considered a \u201chostile foreigner\u201d and for this reason the French authorities send him to an internment camp in the south of France.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/kunst-raub-rueckgabe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/P1000062-scaled.jpg\" "\\"Aloisia,")
<\/span>Aloisia Mayer<\/div>
Bayerische Staatsgem\u00e4ldesammlungen<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A<\/span>fter France signed an armistice with the German Reich in June 1940, Mayer is released.<\/p>\nHowever, he is unable to return to Paris, which is now under German occupation. Instead, he remains in the as yet unoccupied south of the country.<\/p>\n
He hopes that his family would join him. However, his wife Aloisia is seriously ill. She dies in August 1941.<\/p>\n
Angelika Mayer is just eleven years old. Friends of the family find a boarding school for her in Nice, the Institut Mass\u00e8nes. Its headmistress endeavors to save Jewish children.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
![](\"https:\/\/kunst-raub-rueckgabe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/B-323-Bild-0311-022_layout-ERR-Warenlager_vergroessert-scaled.jpg\")
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
![\"Historical](\"https:\/\/kunst-raub-rueckgabe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/B-323-Bild-0311-031_ERR-Paris-Bilderlager-e1701429238625.jpg\" "\\"A")
<\/span>Depot for pictures stolen by the ERR. <\/div>
Federal Archives, 323 Bild-0311-031<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>
![\"A](\"https:\/\/kunst-raub-rueckgabe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/B-323-Bild-0311-029_layout-ERR-Warenlager-in-Kaufhaus-e1701429777323.jpg\" "\\"ERR")
<\/span>ERR depot Paris.<\/div>
Federal Archives, 323 Bild-0311-029<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Raided in Paris<\/h2>\n
In the meantime, Mayer\u2019s apartment in Paris is being looted by the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Task Force (ERR) (-> Glossary). His few remaining artworks and his library of books are brought to Germany; a number of the artworks go straight to Hermann G\u00f6ring (-> Glossary), who is building up his own collection.<\/p>\n<\/div>
![\"Photo:](\"https:\/\/kunst-raub-rueckgabe.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_20230109_104110-scaled.jpg\" "\\"IMG_20230109_104110\\"")
<\/span>