Herbert Max Magnus Gutmann (1879-1942) was born in Dresden, Germany. In 1872 his father Eugen was one of the founders of the Dresdner Bank. Herbert was a member of the board of managers of the Dresdner Bank AG and head of the board of the Deutsche Orientbank AG. The Dresdner Bank named him as its representative on over thirty advisory boards of both German and foreign companies. As an art connoisseur he was collecting objects from the Rococo period, Islamic Art, East Asian objects and porcelain.

After the Nazis came to power in Germany on January 30, 1933, life for Gutmann and his family changed forever. Their Jewish origins and his political activity during the days of the democratic Weimar Republic brought him to the attention of the Nazis. As the Dresdner Bank was under Reich’s control, the Nazis exerted influence on the management of the bank as early as March 1933.

Gutmann had to relinquish his place on several advisory boards of companies connected to the Dresdner Bank. The German State also cancelled all the contracts he had secured through the bank and, furthermore, the Dresdner Bank went to claim that Gutmann also owed them thousands of Reichmarks in unsubstantiated debts.

For this reason, he was forced to auction his art collection at the auction house Paul Graupe in Berlin and sell other property as well.

Among the property were securities, stocks, bonds and shares of companies as the Berlinische Bodengesellschaft AG, Auskunftei Schimmelpfeng GmbH and Bayerische Motorenwerke AG.