Philately as a contemporary witness

During an appraisal of a collection, our philatelists came across a card dated 5.3.1941, which is interesting not only in philately, but also from a contemporary historical point of view. It was written by Mr. Alfred Sommerguth to Dr. Paul Flütsch in Lugano, concerning Mr. Sommerguth‘s entry into Switzerland and the announcement of an amount of 6000 or even 8000 francs that Mr. Sommerguth could put up as a deposit. Alfred Sommerguth and his wife Getrud were important art collectors and had assembled a collection of 106 paintings. These, being of Jewish faith, were successively stolen from them by the ruling Nazis, through pseudo-legal activities such as a foreclosure at H.W. Lange, Berlin. The earnings were used to pay the due „Judenvermögensteuer“ (Jewish property tax). The remaining assets were also withheld from them by a blocking of accounts, so that the couple were completely penniless in exile, contrary to the optimistic assumption stated in this card of 5.3.1941. At least the couple made it via Switzerland, Portugal and Cuba to New York, where Mr. Sommerguth died impoverished in 1950, his wife following him four years later.