Banker Fritz Mannheimer died ten weeks after his wedding, his bank failed, and Hitler bought his collection from the creditors

Fritz Mannheimer, born in Stuttgart in 1890, ran Mendelssohn & Co. in Amsterdam. He had the bank buy his art and furniture for him. In 1934 his partners forced a settlement: the collection was sold for just over 6.5 million guilders to The Artistic & General Securities Ltd and leased back to him. He kept buying on the bank's account. In January 1939 a conversion loan for the French government failed, and he hid it. On 1 June 1939 he married Marie Annette Reiss. On 9 August 1939 he died of a heart attack at his house near Paris. Once Amsterdam heard, the bank's bankruptcy could not be avoided. Debts were 14.5 million guilders to his own bank and 27.4 million to others. His widow was pregnant; a daughter, Anne France, was born in December 1939. In October 1941 the German art office offered 5.5 million guilders, about a third of insured value, and threatened seizure. The contract called the sale "not entirely voluntary." The works went to Hitler's planned Linz museum. Allied officers recovered them from the Altaussee salt mine. The Dutch state took them, and the Rijksmuseum received ownership in 1960. A 1952 auction of 476 lots paid remaining creditors. The widow, later Jane Engelhard, gave up most of the paintings and kept a Fragonard and a Van Mierevelt. Settling the bank took nearly 20 years. In 2026 the Rijksmuseum holds about 1,401 Mannheimer objects, including 876 pieces of Meissen^†.