At the beginning of 1938, Albert Pollak donated a series of objects to the MAK. A few weeks later, after the “Anschluss” of Austria, Albert Pollak was persecuted by the Nazi regime as a Jew. In December 1938, he fled Vienna. His art collection was seized in March 1940 and distributed among different museums. In November 1941, the MAK took over 25 objects from the Pollak collection. Three pieces were lost at the end of the war in 1945 in the Eckartsau depot shelter. 19 objects were restituted in 1950. Three porcelain items were acquired by the MAK from the heirs-at-law of Albert Pollak in a barter deal and have remained at the museum until today.
