As Billionaire Funds an Opera House, Nazi-Era Questions Linger Over His Company

Earlier this year, Tobias Kratzer, the newly appointed general director of the Hamburg State Opera, revealed his bold vision for transforming the company. He emphasized that his inaugural season would focus on embracing artistic risk and breaking with tradition.

During a presentation in March, Kratzer unveiled a season filled with reinterpretations of classic operas and fresh commissions. The production plans included provocative stagings and costumes that defied gender norms, all set against a backdrop of contemporary political themes. His approach signals a significant shift in the opera house’s artistic direction, aiming to spark conversation and appeal to new audiences.

While Kratzer’s creative overhaul is a major step for the Hamburg State Opera, it coincides with an even more daring venture — the construction of a brand-new opera house along the city’s harbor. Sitting beside Kratzer at the event, Hamburg’s Minister for Culture, Carsten Brosda, presented the ambitious plan: a state-of-the-art performance venue with a projected cost of €340 million (around $394 million).

Unusually for Germany, where public cultural buildings are typically government-funded, this project will be privately financed. The city of Hamburg will contribute only by providing land and essential infrastructure, such as flood protection. Brosda described the donation as “incredible,” marveling that someone would be willing to fund an entire opera house as a gift to the city.

However, Brosda avoided naming the project’s benefactor: Klaus-Michael Kühne, an 88-year-old German billionaire. Nor did he address the controversy surrounding the origins of Kühne’s wealth. Kühne’s family business, Kühne + Nagel — now one of the largest logistics firms in the world — has a problematic history. During World War II, the company collaborated with the Nazi regime to transport stolen Jewish property.

Unlike many other German companies that have been implicated in aiding the Nazi regime, Kühne has repeatedly dismissed calls to allow independent historians to investigate the company’s wartime activities. He has stated publicly that what occurred during that era is no longer relevant — a position that many find troubling in light of Germany’s strong national culture of remembrance and accountability.

Annette Jael Lehmann, a cultural studies professor at the Free University of Berlin, expressed concern in an interview about the decision to accept Kühne’s donation for such a prominent civic project. She noted that this choice appears inconsistent with Germany’s commitment to remembering the atrocities of the Holocaust. “It could be seen as using art to cleanse the image of Kühne’s company,” she said. Lehmann also warned that this might discourage progressive artists from collaborating with the State Opera, undermining Kratzer’s broader goals.

Despite the ethical debate, there is general agreement that Hamburg’s opera scene would benefit from a new, modern venue. The State Opera’s current building, which dates back to 1955, has long required substantial renovation. Many hope that a new structure could generate the same kind of global buzz as the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg’s acclaimed concert hall, which opened in 2017 after years of construction delays and soaring costs.

Yet Kühne’s involvement in the project is expected to draw greater attention to his family company’s past. Kühne + Nagel, co-founded in 1890, once operated with a Jewish business partner, Adolf Maass. However, following Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, Maass left the firm. His granddaughter, Barbara Maass, said the family believes he was forced out due to his Jewish identity. Tragically, Maass was later murdered at Auschwitz in 1944.

A spokesperson for Kühne + Nagel stated that Maass left the company “by mutual agreement.” But soon after his departure, Alfred and Werner Kühne — Klaus-Michael’s father and uncle — joined the Nazi Party. Under their leadership, the company received contracts from the Nazi regime and was labeled a “National Socialist model company,” a designation reserved for businesses that exemplified Nazi ideology.

The company claims most records from the Nazi era were lost in wartime bombings. Public knowledge about Kühne + Nagel’s role in Nazi crimes remained limited until 2015, when historian Wolfgang Dressen and journalist Henning Bleyl uncovered damning documents in public archives. Their research revealed the company’s significant involvement in the M-Aktion, a Nazi program that looted Jewish households across occupied Western Europe. The stolen goods — furniture, valuables, and other items — were shipped back to Germany, where they were resold or redistributed.

Bleyl emphasized the critical role this operation played during the war. “Access to affordable furniture for German families was a key part of keeping public morale high,” he said. He added that the looting was often tied directly to the deportation and murder of Jews, as authorities targeted households specifically to seize their possessions.

According to Bleyl’s findings, Kühne + Nagel transported goods equivalent to about 30,000 railway wagons from the Netherlands and Belgium alone. “Their involvement was on a massive scale,” he noted.

After the war, denazification tribunals assessed the actions of Alfred and Werner Kühne. In Hamburg, one such panel labeled them “profiteers” who had cooperated extensively with the Nazi regime in looting Jewish property. In Bremen, a second tribunal initially classified them as “offenders,” which would have required them to relinquish control of the company. However, under pressure from British and American intelligence agencies — who believed the Kühnes were useful for strategic purposes — the brothers were reclassified as “collaborators,” a lesser offense that allowed them to retain the business.

Today, many major German companies with ties to the Third Reich — including Hugo Boss, Bertelsmann, and Deutsche Bank — have commissioned comprehensive reports by independent historians and made the findings public. Kühne + Nagel has not followed suit, citing the destruction of its archives as a major obstacle. Although the company has contributed to the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation — a fund supporting Holocaust education — the amount of its contribution remains undisclosed.

Hamburg’s culture ministry has defended the opera project by noting that Kühne + Nagel has acknowledged its Nazi-era involvement. An international competition will be held to choose the design for the new opera house, which will be located along the waterfront. Kühne has stated in a broadcast interview that he expects the venue to be completed by 2032.

Kratzer, for his part, has tried to remain focused on the artistic implications. In an interview, he said the new building could provide enhanced resources and increased visibility for the opera company, though he declined to speak in detail since his contract ends in 2030.

At 45, Kratzer has built a reputation as an innovative force in European opera, directing productions at prestigious venues like the Paris Opera and the Bayreuth Festival. He is known for his efforts to modernize the art form and attract younger audiences. He has already invited rapper Shirin David to collaborate with the Hamburg State Opera and has promised to bring fresh perspectives to well-known works.

His debut season includes boundary-pushing reinterpretations of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila, as well as a children’s performance featuring the complex music of avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen — which he acknowledged “almost sounds like a joke.”

Kratzer also intends to address problematic themes in the opera canon. For example, a production of Madame Butterfly will be accompanied by a panel discussion exploring its colonial implications.

German media outlets have responded enthusiastically. Public broadcaster BR described Kratzer’s approach as a “paradigm shift,” while Hamburger Abendblatt praised his plans as daring and unconventional.

Asked about the controversy surrounding Kühne’s donation, Kratzer said he appreciated that the debate had at least brought greater public attention to the opera. “Even just talking about the building,” he noted, “helps draw more eyes to what we’re doing here.”