 In 1940 Gurlitt's ex-wife and his second wife acquired a mansion in Bad Aussee to accommodate the Gurlitt art collection.Again, this action can be interpreted in two ways.On the one hand it was clearly a means of ensuring the safety of a substantial private property against the threat of bombing (in 1943 Gurlitt's Berlin home and business premises were actually bombed out), on the other hand this outstorage of the artworks can be seen as a means of protecting them from the Nazis who threatened to destroy 'degenerate' art.