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https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/files/original/d91462f6650157a85f5aec02f123dd71.pdf
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OFFICE OF
MILITARY
."',
,~'. ~.'
t,
GOVERNMENT FOR BAVARIA
' .. ;r',·~:,APO '407
p
,
~
MONTHLy'CONSOLI::DATED:::BTELD REPOitT- "
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,
. 'Septemberi947',
Part I
:,,'
"
Personnel
1.' united, States Personnel
of 30 September 1947:
assigned, or on TDY as .
'
a. Officers ... none
b. CiviliansIvIr. Herbert S.Leonard; Ac:t;ingChief of Section,
'from
Mr •. Harold J. Clem, Executive and Ai-chives Specialis
Mr. Edgar Breitenbach, ,South Bavaria
'
lVIr. Andre K6rmendi t · North' Bavarf~'
2. ' Allied Repr,esentatives':
" Mr. Rene de Beaufort (Dutch) ,
Mr. Hans J. Stach (Dutch) Lt~ Frans S. Baudouih (Belgian)
Capt." Elie Doubinsky (French)
Mr. 'Ro1:>.erto Salvini (Italian)
Capt; .Carlo Rupnik' (Ital,ian)
..:...
'"
3. "German personnel e1J).ployed dird~tly fQ,r MFA&A
activi.ties . . . . . . . . . ,' •• '
~
4.' RequiromeIits and R~comme:6.dations
.,,1
.~
,
"
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•• ' • • • • • • •
none
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• • . 77
�the) Haus de·r Rheinischen ·Heimr.lt •. A thil'd 'sh\p~nt, .:tlso on 24 .
SeptGmbor, consist,,~dof piJ:int.ingsi furniture md othvr objects
of'priv:1td ow~;)rshfq(n;';ichitGdfrom ·the··British Zono.· This ship
mdnt . ·:llso we):::; m:.d~: from GJ.ip~~chinone riilro;;1.d Cll'.
e. This' officeh·.18 und.JrtJ.kGh t'o medio.te :1 long sto.nding di
puto betw.JGn ICD ::md thu IIJ.nc1.eS:;llnt fiir DdDltrllJ.lpfl~g.J. ::(lh0 City
of B:::'yrGuth h;1s p11G 'i,t; th0 dispos'll. of th·:.~licori$\je· of thiJ HF±'ru
kischi:l Prdsse,j , J . cit::y-o'Nll.::;d.1:-o].l :iJst:itefor· tho urdction of b.
nuwsp(";.par office buildingmd printing p).:1nt. This si t<J cont~1li.11;
thG romn::mts of a .hO:17:Gy bomh~d 17th century c::.sarnJ ~ p.:'.rt olf
which is still ;3kmd,i.. I'lS .. TheL::mdas;J.mt ffu.. D:mkm.J.lpf10g0 object.,
to tho pLmn.ed ClcmoL.tion C)f the.remo.ining f::::,c".dd of tho c:1..$0~n
J.nd insist,::;d 6':..1. :Lts P::'i.::;S,3':Cv:lt.ion and its incorpo.r.·:ition into the
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To: Erin
From: JP
Date 8 June 2000
Re: Paper on U.S. Forces' Control of Art
,,'
;~per,
p~tt~mjof
I
Hi there. As I mentioned in m:>: last response to your
I think
need to do more to show a
behavior with respect to U.S. forces with respe<;t to 1}:lax security guarding cultural property and 2) thefts
among sol?ie'ts (reverse the order if you will) .. I h~ve:i.i·~en r~adin~ the bookby P~ter f.larclerode and
Bren<ian Pittaway called The Lost Masters. It IS new and pnnted In England. I WIll bnng a copy next week
when I come. But I would alert you that they have a chapter (#8-"To the Victor the Spoils") which picks
up on Alford and lists a number of problematic mciddlts. I think we have docs. on most of the cases. I I
would advise including a thumbnail sketch of these incidents in the paper: perhaps a list at sQme point with
just a bit of elaboration (like a short paragraph about what was taken by whom). We could also provide
citations for follow-up (archival and secondary source). In looking tfuough the chapter, I noted the
following:
'
1
p. 164) "It is an unpalatable but inescapable fact that ?\'11iei:l'tr00ps did indulge in large-scale looting of
works of art in Germany during the immediate post-v.iar period. The majority ofsuch was carried out by
personnel of the US Army-largely because most of the Nazi repositories were located in areas occupied
by American forces-and involved officers and men of all ranks from general to private."
H?hen~s~hau
165-67) Discussion of looting of
near Bad Ai?ling ,that in,volved works from thll
,
. Leqbachhaus. 43 works shU mISSIng.
.' i!" 'VI'/lr.· ttl,il.c. ',?
.
(
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~
166-68) Discussion ofBudingendnclude~ quote about soldiers being fined $70 if they were caught
sending back illicit materials: ls,this t r u e ? '
,
."
""... :
'
'. .
169-72) Discusison ofBad Wildungenand Stadel M;;seum property. Notes that some of the stufftumed
up at a New York dealer's. ,,'
173) Notes destruction of 110,00 files of U.S. Anny's Criminal In~estigation Division in 1965. This
Remember: the absence o(oestruction of information is information.
1\ strikes me as important.
/,
WV'U<~ ~
Yl(}{0;!
':'
V LoOting of monastary of St.,n"'l CAinf)Austria:by U.S. forces. ,
4-75)
Florians
C
175) 900d sunimary of Evelyn Tucker's efforts to'investigate U.S. misappropriations in Austria. Her
tribulations should definitely be in the paper.
'
.
'"
'~.
. ' Jr
'
176) Discussion of Harry Collins and his Vilia\i,larsburg iii Salzburg (did we even know the name?).
177) Tucker's efforts to investigate Mark8lark. Also thefts from Alt Aussee (????).
178) Krinner case,
'iih1i~' involving works from Monte Cassino, ~
179) Another theft from the Munich CCP-this ,
..
II
1\
0'1t
Il/
184-85) Info ~hat wouldn't probably fit into'~hi5,papeE' but would be interesting for the report, The autHors
discuss the controve,rsial restitution to Italy (I am riot sure we ~re going to tac~le that o~e) ~nd then also:
talk about the Intenhons of US museum personneL Rousseau IS quoted as saymg, "Ithink It's absurd to let
the Germans have the paintings th.e Nazi-bigwigs got; often through forced sales, from all, over Europe.
Some .of,them ought to come h,ere, and I don::~'mear.. especially to the Metropolitan',which is, fair~y well off
for pamtmgs, but to museums In the West WhICh aren't." The 202 works are also dIscussed m thiS context.
I think we should do a paper on U.S. intentions for this loot-this is a paper that I could write (~hat a
concept).
'
I,
187-90) Return of works from CCP Munich to Austria discussed and then later MauerbaC~aUCtion in 1996,
�OK, well, that's it. I just wanted to give you a heads-up that I would be bringing the book with me next
week and that we should plan to exploit it. Konstantin may have told you, but Gene wants us to have a
paper to deliver by Monday, I guess the 18 th • I don't have a calendar in front of me. We need to decide
which paper is closer to being ready for the commissioner (Numbers or Control). Please share this memo
with Konstantin (and whoever else you want). See you soon. I get in to Dulles at like 7:50 p.m. on
Monday night. I will check my e-mail on Sunday or Monday before I leave.
Best,
JP
\
�Allegations of misconduct, poor requisitioning practices, and even looting have
been leveled against the U.S. military authorities in the past for behaviors exhibited by
U.S. forces during and after World War U. This paper does not seek to further such.
allegations against U.S. iristitutions as a whole, or to disqualify those cases on individual
misdeeds that have already been well documented. Instead it is meant to examine the
particular relationship of the U.S. forces intheir role as custodians of victims' art and
cultural property and to evaluate them in this capacity alone. Doing so, it must be stateo
clearly and early that such a paper neglects to concern itself with the actions of US.
forces in the private homes of non-victims, churches, and in public buildings and'
monuments.. Further, the removal of goods byU.S. servicemen is noted in instances
where an item was returned from the U.S. to Europe through the efforts of Customs
officials, the State Department, or American museums-though not all of the cases
include victims' assets. Through this exercise it' is possible to say that the U.S. forces did
an admirable job safeguarding-and later·restituting-victims' art.and cultural propertY.
Their record is a largely positive one in that they restituted millions of cultural objects I
(c.f. Numbers paper). Thus, the cases discussed below are not illustrative of the generall
behavior of U.S. forces. However, they highlight areas where individuals or small groJps'
of individuals, representing the United States acted imperfectly in the performance,of .
their responsibility for victims' art assets. These areas are: 1) theft of objects by
individuals in the field; 2) lapses in the s~curity of collecting poi~ts~ and 3) investigati\l/e
procedures that were unable because of CIrcumstances to track mIssmg assets or
allegations of misbeha.vior so that the assets could be recovered and the individual held
accountable.
~/.
~~t~ren?i:~~-:~f{~6rt~,lf~fd~;-Gb1dhI?rW,,:~'::fiob~l4~:f~bri{~~~11im;~£tj!@:si!is_~{Qfu!hg
rt~~~I'.;~llfi:I¢¥9Y~JL?r$~j~~ts_r~6i':"R~gt~ctiJlh';~?;·~(~ilqlIip.: <Ji~'c.~.$§.i'Qhs1
.
Russian~~e=g<'-fh7
~clQ.e.J.S
Propaganda ofthe.Germans anq later the
,
behavior of the American troops an activity that requires great care. German propagantla,
of the sort exemplified below, must be disregarded as patently fals~:
It has long been known to the world that the German soldiers do not
pillage or destroy works of art in Anglo-American fashion, but that, on the
contrary, they are used to rescue works of art from destruction, staking
their lives in order to preserve them for their owners~ What is now
happening in the United States, is organized Robbery of Art. The
Commission of Pirates which has already been sent to Sicily apparently is
not yet enough. I
American press coverage ofthe.activities of U.S. forces has been both critical and
understanding. Allegations of American GIs looting captures attention to this day. I
including a recent article in the New York Times!KtWilliam Honan wf6te "RetHmiRg tbe
Sp6ils of War, With Il1'1fflliHity" chronicling examples of former soldiers returning prizbs
captured as souvenirs during their time in Europe. The article- discusses the effort to
.
.....'
.
~
1 "Organized Robbery of Arts Monuments in the United_States:~eommission-in-Q[der "to
prevent art monuments from demolition by war;::unittrilllIted German 2rop.Egandh, .
?
undated, NACP, RG 239, Box 42 [110933-110934].
�.
.
~.
. (l-ff)( S
stImulate more returns through tHe. e'HORs-of museum and government agencIes werhf!:t:
to publish c~talogues on the Internet that identify artworks ~·~that might have been
confiscated or looted by members of the armed forces during World War 11."2 The autHor
notes with surprise that, "what is belatedly coming to light .. .is that while American
soldier.sjn_\YQrld War II were exp!essly forbidden from stealing by ~j::ofthe
cArticies ofWa:f:) surprising numbefJ2fAmerican servicemen and women ... stole
.
. artworksalw:other valuables.,,3 'R-e_~"e advisefth~.tJhe only way to profit from war
.
booty . l d 'be to sel~lt back to its original owner, a~ any sale of the property to 1~'I.i
. ath6ne;otb @f tbaA: ~e 6wnCF is m~de without passing clear title. In1>hce of illegal sales
of booty, or a sale back to the original owner~he only option left to most GIs is to .
voluntarily attempt to return the object to the l~ality from which it was taken.
.
I
/
l~~*~.
. Not only is evidence ofan organized state-sanctioned looting program
nonexistent, but there is no evidence that a'cts of individual misappropriation were
widespread. The cases that d 2 t ~erit attention and .. eview in ord'O[ t~ ~
understand the allegations of
but are not to be taken ~~ 11 0 t ~~litary as an
~mstitution ovany policy of the United States government. James Rorimer, one of the
original MF A&A Officers, offers the best testimony in answer to the charges of critics
with his reflectio~~ "because of the nature of my assignment, I was in a position to
hear about and investigate cases of misappropriation and vandalism and still I can say'
.that there was never any evidence of large scale ,misappropriation of objects of art of
great importance by the Americans. ,,4 He describes the. practices he did witness: "[w]e
have all heard stories of souvenir collecting, but except in a few instances these were o'ot
tales of items ofinternation[al] importance," and that "the average officer or soldier
rarely has a flare for collecting objects of real value, and ifhe does, he is .apt to be
acquainted with the regulations and penalties."s
"'_ . _~,}:er\~(S/it..-t~ 1-.
=Jv.V.~J:!g ~
Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers argues:
it is worth pausing ... to see the Americans as conquerors through the
microcosm of E Company. They took what they wanted, but by no means,
did they rape, loot, pillage, and bum their way through Germany. If they
did not respect property rights, in the sense that they commandeered their
nightly billets without compensation, at least when the Germans moved
back in after th~y left, the plac.e was more or lessintact. Of course there
Wiliiam H. Honan, "Returning the Spoils of War, With Immunity," The New York
....
Times, April 16, 2000 [bates number to be added].
3 William H. Honan, "Returning the Spoils of War, With Immunity," The New York
Times, April 16, 2000 [bates number to be added] ..
4
. James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Educa~ion," p.l; Archives of American Art,
James Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added]. .
.
S James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p.l, Archives of American Art,
James Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added]. .
2
I
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In qtv\.t~ ~ ~~,'"
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�. -'I
were some,rapes, some mistreatment of individual Germans, and some
looting, but it is simple fact t9 state that other conquering armies in W',Wn,
perhaps most of all the Russian but including the Japanese and German,
acted differently. 6 '
'.
Rorime~cte~ on the ~ practices of the American soldiers in comparison to,-f\t.-oSs<- ~ o~
.68C
dfpast armies:'
,
.
Nazi vandalism and looting have horrified the world. Our armies were
guided by directives which reduted to a minimum the old idea that "to the'
. victor belong the spoils." Such objects as cameras and binoculars were
. often interpreted as being justifiable trophies or souvenirs of war, but.even
the confiscation ofthese from civilians was outlawed by specific orders.
NO individual was permitted ~o enrich himself in time of war by taking
paintings from museum,collections, rugs from private homes, coins and
stamps from momentarily abandoned buildings, or silverware handed
down from generation to the next generation. Our soldiers were subjected
to temptations, and more than will ever be recorded was destroyed or
.
. shipped home. But, the total monetary value of such things is relatively
l<O
~ligh~, a~d th~ value of ~he cultural objeCts which disappeared is
': .
.~'"
mfimteslmal m p~op~r:l~n to ~hatwas actually saved. A repres~ntatIve of
~. ~'11
. (U.S. customs maIl DI~lsIOn estImated that about 6,000 t~ 8,000 mspectors
.\Jt'~ ~ would have been reqUlred to screen completely ... the shipments from
~ .._
. '. Germany and Austria. No one will ever know how great was the actual
.
quantity of "liberated" items mailed to home.?
.
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1'- ..···"·; .....
I"'\'fil;~-~-,--'7 ... ~' ....
r..,·.,-',;.. . . . . . .
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,
,
I
~.fs~i~$'~;':.~S}?!s{y.~~i!r~!Wla~:p,Fpp~ny:(~lU'sri~~iri'l~~~~·s,~~mt,I!S~~SiH~~;t0;~l.Hsti»cti0n;:
lli.fft9ul!Y:!!}2.(teriti!yiI}g~~Y.th~,.ti,iri~<9ft~~Jt:m~~QfH5!p"Qf!!i~i'~§.S~YJ1, .,. #t~..
'~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .\A..<;' rv...;J., :~N~ ,?(-:~..-t,.\J"v' \I\,... ~
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~
\cA"vN ~ 'II"L~' ~1t..Lt1:~ ~ ~ .~~ ~)~'A.k:; ~1Jv0~ ~k~,,t~~ t~li'f(cs-'l
If l
1.
,
Theft m the Fle:d.·
'.
. (J , , ..
.
I. ( Intro t~ subject; yank magaz~ne a~lcl~fer ~o MIlItary ~overnment
, regtllliMiefls (c.f. Paper on PolIcy DIrectIves for th~ pr?tectIOn of art/cp)1,
'.
'}J,;6\t't '-(() urlU.., ~ c;l-dv:. ~
.2. We do not knowhow many cases of theft of cultural property by U.S.
forces occurred because a successful theft)~y its natur~\Indetected;
destruction of files. .
. , 1, ':)
~ ~,'
It
. '
.
.
c~ \u.e..w
.
~~,
~ l~ok
\.I-M 0 bv--Luv~Gt..
V\'U\~S (~ )
Aedh / .
Mfll\,C'wlr\SJ
M...lf\{.ift
I
The'Army's Criminal Investigations Division was the office responsible, along
~")
with the Provost Marshal, for investigations into any and all allegations or cases of a I kf\,t.U. ~
criminal nature. The CID agents were contacted when it was thought a work of art l1J~y ~ ltD
have been stolen, as in the case of AlbeIt Ktinn@t's thefts from the Munich CCP. While ~vh
the Provost Marshal and CID workedon these types of investigations throughout the J..ar "'" AA~~
and postwar period, minimal records survive for consultation and analysis. The CID
. '-. -, :--.--r~
I
-
A. . .
~~~~
[~\
Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers (Simon & Schuster, New York 1992),257-258.
? James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p.l, Archives of American Art,
James Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added].
I
6
(loth s,,~LcJ
"
I
'
~~
/
�.
.
.
.
.
.
'.
J1.'-~.~ J.~s ~
~
.,
'1.AIt.~
' , .
I
'
~ d.t.6~ol
transferred materia.Is relating to one case, t e. theft of the Hesse Crown Jewels, to the
~\)
National Archives and Records Administr tion, however all other case files are
systematicaily destroyed after forty yearsQRecords that have survived, including
statistical surveys of criminal investigations provide far too few details to evaluate .
,
rw'lt. ~ C~
correctly whether or not victims' assets were involved·l!.-1~
-iN.'G+n -
~.
In lieu ofth~se case files and the evidence they may or may not~:grovided,
we must rely on existing reports of and treat them as illustrative of the . ~ of problems
faced by the U.S. authorities in their responsibility for victims' art and cultural propertyl.
¥/
#-' ~ ¥
~
~ ~~kdJ\
. .
~
, ~ ~.
~'
~.
.
. .
.
~~~ '~ ~ .~ 9 ;::::<i('_ ·IL - _I
'I'1J'M\VI..
.
•
. Rorimer~s~ti~aian lU\.AA)H~~·proV'ide 8fietkef ifttre8ttctioh,
" Tb.0 e*amples eftxcesses in Germany.C3fe noMolated caseSi-W"T'FoII Ihe "liter MH6,
~s . -me they typical of Ameri.2an JJehavior generally .. Like the cases we have read abouNrt
\:P"':1 t~e.w,spa:pers;-such-as"th1nheft 6ftne'royarHCSsFj'ewel'simpricatYng a colonel anoa
"'tAG 6aptaiJ;l~-tbey ate DOl incide.nts,.gt:~~eaF1-ee-pt=emti~Ttiey are eiiSetlBseei as'
indications of loose thinking and a lack of dIscipline which have reverberations in Nazi
Germany where it was our earnest intention to set an example to a people who had
_.
become ,degene~ate. through their ownex~:!~s an.l~ those of their leaders." 9
~
I'
~5~e~q~~.
9h ~ ~ .r~ .
~ ~ GAIl c:..~ !)ifferent kinds of info (sources)
I
J.,'Y
\J....~-.
'Vv.JvV 1.4.A.-Z :>
i
~ fNV
I
'
-4 Records of the smallest instances of theft and.misbehavior exist in the memos, reports
.
and other correspondence of the prope~ control officers and MFAA .officialsj( ~
~f3ted Europe, Germa~/ IUI:8 t\wst&jM/f>r instance, a May 1945 memo noted that I
American soldiers were entering a home in Briennerstrasse, disturb~ the art collection
. ,.' ,
,:,
there and giving away items from the residence to their girlfriends. ~ 'e'. .',
,
1944 the Supreme Allied Commander of the Mediterranean Theater' ~
wrote concerning the pro~lell1 of unauthorized conversion of private property. H.M. I
~.-.
Wilson noted that "organizations and individuals of our armed forces'have destroyed or
removed, without authority, from billets and buildings in this theater, furniture and
furnishings belonging to private individuals. ",11
6) On April 21,
(~~ S~~ ~ c.~~...A~ ~~~
.
«;U'"
~.(c~""hcv.. ~ J:)1o~c.i:s.1 ~~'"""
?
with assistance of Paul Brown per inquiries into the records of the CID.
~("L'"
9 James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p.2, Archives of American M,
.
James Rorimer Papers [bates number to be :;tdded]. The Hesse Crown Jewels Case . I
.
involved the theft ofjewels and other valuables from the Kronberg Castle. The case was
investigated by local military government ·authorities in Hesse, the CID and resulted in
the much publicized trial and convictions of two American officers.
10 Major Edward 1. Berry, Jr., Property Control Officer to Lt. Kern, Munich Property
Control Section, memo, May 22, 1945, NACP, RG 260; Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 277
[119539]. The home belonged to Baroness Esseoe (or Esseo).
"
I
11 H.M. Wilson, Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater to Commander-il'l
Chief, Allied Armies in Italy, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, Air Commander-iA
Chief, Mediterranean, and the General Officer Commanding, North Africa District,
"Unauthorized Conversion of Private Property," April 21, 1944, NACP, RG 331, Entry,
SHAEF, File: 130 G-5 Fine Arts, Box 272 [11 7236].
8 CITE
I
)
�.
"
"" ~
\
\AO.S~:
Wilson~x:pr€lss@B concern at these ae~I*B~"these offenses show a
lack of discipline and bring into disrepute the honesty and integrity of our armed forces.
Permitting or tolerating such acts is a dereliction of duty and constitute a reflection on tne
efficiency of the' Commanders." Wilson further suggests that "there are authorized
'
means by which civilian property of any kin'd necessary to the war effort can be
'
procured," and expresses his desire that "immediate action be taken to return all i:t--f'\'IJ ~ 1"0
inisappropriated'property and to guard against recurrences of this nature.,,12 \f\el'M.s ~
M8!U!ft1CIIts', F~ A~.and AfiA:iviS Officers worked to protect monuments and
art and cultural assets from the dangers of war, DP'stenemy armies as well as from U.S.
'
• troops t~emselves. Such efforts were described in February 1945l ~ ~ ~~
~_ ~~~ ~.
- \J
' ' - - - - . lli....'wd'l,:t"
.
x:epott QUAe ~Iinth TIS AAll;' Q£2U~, die iR&i.Qe~f~ '-"~II' -
disappeaftl:ftee 9f 9Qjects sto,!d in t"be gai8B91lSe at..Schloss RiIilb~r~
be symptomatic of a development which promises to be most serious for
MFA&A in Germany. Undoubtedly, the Allied troops, both US and
British, have far less regard for property in Germany thari they have
hitherto displayed in Allied territory .. In view of the, enemy policy of
dispersal of art objects for safekeeping against air attack, the danger to art
objects of wanton damage of pilfering by Allied troops has become a
major consideration. This is fundamentally a problem ofmilitary
discipline, and strong representations have been made on this question to
, the appropriate ~itary authorities by MFA&A officers at alllevelsY
' In~e
~d~~~QLW.)..~~tmt~i.m~MetmMea.-. .
1~
." .~;\~as..tjme that.Se¥el.]th-~~satt='lTI.1'f1:e·ef"two"arrd-s'cmre"'C~S"of ·1 ~
.,\fe¥h;~'i:;li~~=;vmWt~~t~~~s
tJ!:
,~~ ¥~
fC.... ~.stk~"
)lJJ . . ~ro OS So
l~ks of at t. t I1'OWie'attzed--thaHhe'f)Fess..w@u,ld.b~t useful
bitid;~~t; ~ set ffiftfi to rescue 3!t fWhl.the eRe~ In France I had
as
'j
~
~~~
operated behmd the cover of possible claims agamst our government and
~\t.,.~'ivl;,.
Franco-American relations; in Germany I could expect little or no
~
sympathy for German works of art from the Army. I had to stress the art "
--------lCluoted by the Germans from other countries. 14
.
"
Rorimer goes on in great. detail to describe the damage done to the villa of Hel1j
von Limburgers in Reutti Italy. The damage, ranging from stolen silver, china, watches,
linens, and articles of clothing, to broken furniture; to a week-long bonfire held in the
12 H.M. Wilson, Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater to Commander-in- '
Chief, Allied Armies in Italy, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean,Air Commander-ih
Chief, Mediterranean, and the General Officer Commanding, North 1'-frica District,. I
"Unauthorized Conversion of Private Property," April 21, 194~,.NACP, RG 331, Entry
SHAEF, File: 130 G-5 Fine Arts, Box 272 [117236].
"
13 Report on Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives for the Month of February 1945,
SHAEF, 0-5 Internal Affairs Branch, March 31-{ 1945,NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall
Collection, Box 137 [111010-111015]. ~ -". -\0 ?
"'
14 James Rorimer, Manuscript of Survival, Archives of American Art, James Rorimer
Papers [bates number to be added].
Loot~ ~ -tk kl~
rl
~~I N..f0'~~ \
~'"
~ <1~ ~. ~I ~ I .0 fir, (t'lm?-~fl)-~ , ..
"~ f>'WbA.t.._ ""11 ~v<.~t<'~
0
�backyard, was' painstakingly relayed by the villa's owners in a letter ofprotest to the
Commanding Officer of the Military Government inUlm, Italy~ 15 In his investigation of
I
the problems in Reutti, Rorimer was greatly troubled ~ the lack of discipline evidence~.J
in the remains he visited. ltot'imer continues to eite si~~isturbing instancerat~
University of Marburg Law Library, and the looting of books from the Kunsthistoriches
Institut housed <:t!.the New University Building of Heidelberg. 16 Relating to such
problems, he reffects, "these instances prove the inability of an army, however well
intentioned its higher policy, to cope with such conditions during a period of disorder.
No one officer, no group ofofficers in any army in the world, can disCipline the men
under battle conditions .. ; [w]e obviously did not have sufficient MF A&A officers to
protect many of the most important repositories: At home we have our civilian
authorities to keep people in line with our laws. Our institutions have their doors which
lock and their own systems of guards. The defeated Germans were completely
disorganized and could not protect cultural objects in buildings from which they were
evicted by military personnel." I7 .
.
I
The approach to Berchtesgaden brought the promise of increased exposure to the
.
assets of the victims of Hitler's confiscation program. Ambrose writes,
It was to the Berchtesgaden area that much of the loot collected by the'
Nazis from all over .E;urope had come. The place was stuffed with money,
in gold and in currency from a dozen countries, with art treasures
(Goering's collection alone contained Rembrandts, a Van Gogh, a Renoir,
and much more); It was bursting with booze, jewelry, fabulous cars.
So Berchtesgaden was really two magnets: the symbolic home of Hitler's
mad lust for power, and the best looting possibilities in Europe.
Everybody wanted to get there-French advancing side by side with the
10 I S\British coming up from Italy, German leaders who wanted. to get
their pqssessions, and every American in Europe.
. '
Easy Company got there first. 18
The WIst moved out by convoy between Salzburg and Munich by May 4, 1945. By the
morning of May 5th they had arrived in Berchtesgaden and takenthe town without firing
a single shot. Ambrose writes of the activities'on that first day:
Accommodations were the first order of business. Winters and ,Lieutenant
Welsh went to the Berchtesga:denHof..~ As they ,.tdlred in the flont deef
..
James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p. 11-13, Archives of American
Art, James Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added].
I
16 James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p. 13-14, Archives of American
Art, James Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added]. ' .
17 James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, ":Education," p. 14, Archives of American'
Art, James Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added].
'"
18 Stephen E. Ambrose; Band of Brothers (Simon & Schuster, New York 1992), 272.
15
�·'
There was no need for orders. Wifl:'fers ttHd 'Ne~6b simply Y/ftlked to'Nam..
the man, y,he t:ook-o:ff:- The Americans split the silverware between them.
Forty-five years later, both men were.still using the Berchtesgaden Hof's
,
silverware in their homes ..
.
,
~~ \\.QW'(.., I
.
After getting what he most wanted out of the place, Winters then put a
double guard on the hotel "to stop further looting ... ,,\9'
eryone was grabbing loot at a frantic pace, Germa ~rs were
here-Wehrmacht, Waffen SS, Luftwa ,officers, noncoms,
eve
privates- king for someone to surren
0, and Dog, Easy, and Fox
Companies oft
06th were the firs
get to them. From these soldiers,
Webster wrote his pa
13, "we obtained pistols, knives,
watches, furlined coats, ca
flaged jump jackets,. Most of the Germans
in a while we get an individual who
take it in pretty good . it, but 0
weight of his watch. A pistol
does not want to relieved of the ex
'flashed in . ace, however, can persuade
body. I now have a Luger,
ocks, one
two P-3 ,a Schmeissere machine pistol, tWo jtirn
caufla§ed winter jacket, several Nazi flags about tm
et by two, and
,
.
a watch." 1
Wit
ffiey ~ld carry
~Q!!!lg Americans
or could ever hope to get hom
........-u"""'.s. No problem ...the brass got luxury .
19
20
21
Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers (Simon &. Schuster, New York 1992),273-4.
Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers (Simon & Schuster, New York 1992),274.
Stephen E. Ambrose, Band ofBrothers (Simon & Schuster, New York 1992),275.
�automQ
with tro
s, motorcycles, Vol
nough, and anyw
"It was a uniq
.".
power as we had. Whatever
,or wrecks ... [t]he men ended up
wage ,scout cars, and the like, which
yt
el came just as free as the vehicle ...
ers recalled. "You can't imagine such
e wanted, we just took."
.
With lodging and wheels take care of, the' next thing was liquor. Every
cellar had some wine, but the g atest cache of all was discovered by one
ofthe nondrinkers in the battalio, ajor Winters. On May 6, scouting on
his own, he found Goering's Officer
arters and Club .. .In a vaulted
r row of liquor racks
cellar, 15 meters by 10 meters, there were r
stretching from floor to ceiling. The brand names c~:, t e world. The _
later estimate was that the room held 10,000 bottles~
.
,
v..~ c;"...t
'I~
Looting n . discretion did not always have, a ~~or Speirs, the captain that
helped himself to
item, Amb o~d that his postwar situation involved I
heartbreak and loss. Speirs'
,
n lish widow, was not a widow at all and she ana
. her husband who retu~ from a POW camp
fthe loot Speirs mailed to her
2~
from E~&.""
,
.
",
.
%.
{\ \~
L'lJ~
l~~
-\J.
,
~ __ ~
.\sr~
If'
James Rorimer agreed that the looting and such over-indulgences as 'described
above were problematic: at a meeting with the Commanding Officer of the 10 I st Airborne
. Division, General Taylor, and a G-5, repre.sentative, Major'Smi~h, discussing Goering art
matters Rorimer reviewed with him the looting and lack of security, stressing the Della
24
Robbia incident as typica1. In that incidenha piece of scuipture was smashed because 0f
the carelessness of U.S. personnel. Rorimedold the General of other incidents including
recovering "a painting of the Watteau school from one ofthe,CIC agents that very
morning." The agent mentioned that he had found it in the Bercht,esgaden ~omeof
Colonel General Lorzer and "thought that it might be a nice souvenir." Rotimer writes of
being "greatly disturbed fearing that works of art of great value would disappear in less
honorable hands.,,25
t was not always clear who was responsible for damage to buUdings and.
collections. Such was the case with Castle Ellewagen. American Army security troops
reported ihat"previous occupants" burned important historical letters of Marie:..
'
Antoinette and Napoleon, desecrated the chapel, and pulled paintings down from the
walls. Rorimer hints that the damage resulted from "one of our divisions, which didn't
have a very good reputation for taking care of properties-they were magnificent in
II
22 Stephen Ambrose, Band of Brothers (Simon & Schuster, New York 1992),276-7.
23 Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers (Simon & Schuster, New York 1992),309.
24 The "Della Robbia incident," occurred when U.S. forces, though generally prohibited
from handling art and cultural property, broke two'important Italian art objects.
25 James Rorimer, Manuscript of Survival, p. HIS, Archives of American Art, James
Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added].
~~'.
�J\
fq/.J/~~
combat-we will probably never kn'OW."26 Castles around the German countryside
experienced similar problems from the "liberation" of a bookon Napoleon from the
shelves of Castle Jagsthausen by an unidentified American general to the removal of
historic arms "protected" by an "Off Limits" sign from a house in Adelsheim. 27
Problems at the Fiihrerbau: An anonymous report on the arts at the Fiihrerbau
states that as the Americans were about to enter Munich on April 29, 1945, 723 items
remained in the air raid shelters of the Fiihrerbau. This -number included the 262
paintings' from the Schloss Collection~ It reports that "between the middle of June 1945,
I
when the Central Collecting Point was established in the Fiihrerbau and the
Verwaltungsbau and an adequate military guard was posted,and 15 Nov 1945, 148 have
been found in the Central Collecting Point itself or recovered in Munich and its
environs." It continues' stating, "[a]s of the latter date 575 paintings were still missing,
including all but 22 of the paintings acquired by LINZ from the missing SCHLOSS
collection. ,,28 The allegations of theft and misdeeds at the Fiihrerbau' must be examined
critically in any history of the responsibility ofU.S. authorities for victims' assets. In
reference to the Schloss Collection, the objects' had originally been looted from France.
The twenty-two paintings not looted from the Fiihrerbau were returned to France in the
3rd transport from Munich on January 30, 1946. 29
Concern for the behavior'orU.S. forces as custodians for art and cultural property
_and as occupiers of Austria and Germany was widespread and seemingly thorough as
'review of the numerous policies for safeguarding such properties demonstrates. When
analyzing the implementation 'of these policies and the cooperation of the military
officers with such programs it becomes more difficult to analyze and evaluate the efforts.
Andre Kormendi wrote 'of thi€,.problern! ~sJIe faced it as MF AA Officer for Northern Bavaria in D,ecember 1948: Q:f;::t;lte1rotecti0J? and~covery of German Art Property,
been rEi tes:= .
. '
a
J.
In no field is there greater necessity of con~inued efforts of MF AlA
specialists as in this one. The protection of privately owned cultural
property from requisitioning, the return and recovery of misappropriated
art material by US personnel, black market traffic in art treasures by US
personnel and DP's and other similar infractions will continue as long as
26 James Rorimer, Manuscript for,Survivai, "Education," p. 7, Archives of American Art,
James Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added].
27 James Rarimer, MailUscript for Survival, "Education," p. 7-8, Archives of American
Art, James Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added].
28 Unsigned, undated notes, "Fiihrerbau - Looting," NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall
Collection, File: Hitler Linz Museum V - Retrieved Hitler paintings, Box 427 [120121].
rd
29 Receipt "French Property from CCP, Munich," January 30, 1946, 3 Transport, NACP,
RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, File: Hitler Linz Museum V - Retrieved Hitler
paintings, Box 427 [120122-120123]. A handwritten note on the receipt details "As of15
Nov 45 these 22 paintings w€?re the only ones of the 262 paintings from the Schloss
Collection still in situ??? un-recovered."
�occupational authorities and military units remaIn in Germany. Such
infra«:;tions can be dealt with only by the occupational authorities with the '
assistance of specialists in the field.
'.
,..-....,
In addition to~f'utu~l'n!Tacti~ns, a number of investigat~o.ns ~nitiated by the
office for North-Bavana, which were referred to authontIes m the ZI,
never came to a conclusion. There were other matters where information
was so vague that no action could be initiated. 3o
.
Kormendi's report mentions several of the cases that 'remained without resolution as he
issued his 'final report. Three cases of interest for this:report were mentioned including.:
1) a Greek vase stol~nd taken to the U.S. by an Army officer was returned to the
I
European Theater ~'¥Ias lost between Bremerhaven and an unknown destination; 2) ,
rrMaterials removed on loan from Castle Gaibach, an arts repository, remained
unrecovered despite investigation after the officers who signed for theIIlA~ployed; 3)
Q~e third of the matierials requisitioned from the Staatsmobiliendepot Vienna stored in
Wiirzbur was in the hands of "unknown persons or installations," after officers moved
around. 3 In addition, Kormendi commented on instances of the looting of palaces and
t(!J...
, I-castles in Northern Bavaria. (Df such instances, he wrote, "[a]s in most cases no
~
,~\\inform~~ion w~s available a~ ~o. the identity o0hr~t51!,bey?nd gat~erin~ information
" ~~.,tJJo pos~tIve actIon c9u~t~mt1a~.3) lie g~f@a lMe1'ft'l~ttlert ami 1.dentIfied ,the
1'")., ~'\) .J:""#Cf, followmg problemstsuppose~otmg by troops of art matenalsdeposltedby pnvate
~. l(O ~
individuals at Castle Hoheneck; supposed looting by troops of paintings from the
Germanisches National Museum and other art material at Castle Unternschreez;
disappearance of coin collection and other art objects from Kaiserpfalz Forcheim while
occupied by troops· in 1945; removal of flags and other cultural material from Castle
Lauenstein; disappearance of furniture when military authorities returned it from storage
to Castle Aschbach, a DP occupied resdience; looting by military units of materials froth
the Aschaffenburg museums, the leather museum of Offenbach, of Frankfurt museums
and the private collection of the Prince ofLeiningen stored at the Palace and Abbey in
Amorbach; and the alleged looting of materilas of the Frankfurt museums and the
property of Prince Castell-Riidenhausen from Castle Riidenhausen. 33
or-4
r
In addition to fearing the mistreatment of victims' art and cultural properties, the
Army expressed concern about souvenir hunters. At SchlossEppstein in Weisbaden
Mr. Andre Kormendi, MF AIA Officer for Northern Bavaria, "Final Report on MF AIA
Activities in Northern Bavaria," April 1945 ~ December 1948, NACP, RG 260, ArdeliJ
Hall Collection, Box 375 [119554].
"
31 Mr. Andre Kormendi, MFAIA Officer for Northern Bavaria, "Final Report on MFAIA
Activities in Northern Bavaria," April'1945 -:- December 1948, NACP, RG 260, ArdeliJ
",
I
Hall Collection, Box 375 [119554].
'
"
. 32 Mr~ Andre KOf1l)etidi, MF AlA Officer for Northern Bavaria, "Final Report on MF AlA
Activities in Northern Bavaria," April 1945 - December 1948, NACP, RG 260, ArdeliJ
'Hall Collection, Box 375 [119545].
33 Mr. Andre Kormendi, MF AlA Offiber for Northern Bavaria, "Final Report on MF AlA
Activities in Northern Bavaria," April' 1945 - December 1948, NACP, RG 260, Ardeli~
Hall Collection,Box 375 [119545].
30
I
I
'
�Germany the caretaker complained about acts of vandalism by American soldiers and
though the castle contained '\lothing of exceptional value," it was fe~t the objects would
be "very tempting to souvenir collectors." An offlimits sign was approved for posting ~t
the castle to deiersuchbehavior.
34
1V\~ -A@.k ~ ~~~
~'"
While the MFAA Officers and the Army worked very hard to maintain secure
locations for art in their custody, to protect and eventually restitute that art, admittedly
there were problems. Some of these problems resulted from having too few officers with
arts tr~ining in th~ field. Such was th~ r~tionale provided when t?e Army responde~ to
an article concemmg the theft of a pamtmg by de Mouchetes; Richard Howard, Chief of
the MFAA Section, wrote to request more information about the stolen painting and thel
theft so as to mak~ an effort for recovery: H.o"lYaI'd portrayed the situatjon gft~e MPAA.
I
•"t;.J..;'
At the present there are only a handful ofMontiments, Fine Arts and
\J'f
~ Archives officers on duty in the European Theater and it is obviously
~:rc impossible for them to guard every painting and valuable work of art.
~~. c'"
.
.>~\ ~',n) can, however, assure you tha,t the vast bulk of the German collections in
~~~e American Zone have been saved and that the pilferage has been slight
~~. and what stealing has been done has been shared by the Germans
~ .
themselves and various DP's. It is a m~tter of great regret to all of us that
Americans so far forgot themselves that they, too, sometimes abstracted
property.
;, I
•
It is to'our mutual interest that all items be restored to the rightful country
and rightful owner and to that and it is only such aid as you can give us
t,hat will enable u;s to translate an idealistic hope into concrete and positive
action. 35
,
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r---I'
~
\N)(.O
e 1"
R
)c
I
The relationship between poor security and theft was articulated perfectly in
re.s~~nse to a theft ?f a paintin~ from Wal.ter Weber's office in Fra~furt. The painting,
, which was to be shIpped to Wlesbaden, disappeared from the office m October 1947.
The investigation conducted by an American Public Safety Officer revealed that local
Kripo meml;lers stole the work but that an "extreme lack, of security" had been in effect.
The office had been left unoccupied, the doors were unsecured and "an apparently
careless policy of security was being allowed to continue.,,36
,
Theft urimIlIs fi6ffi iRe Wiesb6ldeRCoIl@GiiHg'P6iAr.Officials moving items
"
cV~ound in the storage areas of Wiesbaden Collecting Point discovered f~ur paintings to
be
I!jJ
34 Maurice de Vienna to Captain Patrick J. Kelleher, Land MFA&A Officer, memo,
March 8, 1946" NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 16 [105550].
35 Richard F. Howard, ChiefMFAA Section to Miss Alvena Sechar, New York, New
York, February 26, 1947, NACP, RG 260, 'Economics Division, Box 115 [119564].
36 Walter Weber, MFAA Officer to Public Safety Section, "Stolen Painting," October
1947; and Joseph P. Thomas, Public Safety Officer, notes on letter, November 12, 1947,
NACP, RG 260, Ardelia'HallCollection~ .Box 176 [119473].
V,
�missing in February 1947: two paintings had been looted from the Gurlitt collection and
were stored at the CCP awaiting restitution, two other paintings were found missing froin
a group ofr.ictures of the Frankfurt Stadel Gallery, paintings that had Jewish owners I
. originally. 7 A statement by the Director ofWiesbaden, Frances Bilodeau, indicated,that
I
there were even f!1ore problems at the CCP with the discovery of at least 14 missing
works. According to the statement, Bilodeau first discovered one painting by Blechen to
be missing on January 22, 1947. He directed the CCP's Technical Assistant to search f~r i..t ~ .
tee Hlissiflg Blechen. ~rough her search, fourteen additional works were discovered td
be missing fFein te8 s~lves weave tb,8Y "'ere stgre4 38 Upon learning this, Bilodeau
contacted Theodore Heinrich, Chief of MF AA in Greater I1esse, the Provost Marshal,
two officers of the Security Guard Company and Edwin Rae of the CID. By January 28
CA. tke CID representative had arrived at Wiesbaden. Bilodeau gave the agent a tour;lists 6f
the missing works and of individuals with passes to the building as well as photographs
of the missing works. Further notificati~n of the theft was provided to Everett Lesley,
Chief of Restitution Section for Hesse, the Director of Intelligence and Richard Howard,
Chief ofMFAA for the American zone ofGermaJ).Y· Bioldeau urged that the
~
shut down in light o.f t~e thefts, but Howard and Theodore Heinrich dis~greed~he tot~l
~
number of works mIssmg grew to twenty by.January 31, 1947. At the. tIme of BIlodeau'l s _.
~ "Q_ .
statement, ~nly one painting hadbe~n.locat.ed. The m~ssing paintings were valued at
&.~$20,480. FIve belonged to the AdmInIstratIOn of BerlIn Castles and Qardens, one to the
.
taatli.che. Museum, Berlin and the remaining f~belonged to the Stadel
.
KunstmstItut, Ftankfurt. 39
I~ 7,
..
.
.
,
~
.
.
g;I>-be-+ w-.
.
Lj
..
.
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.
Rorimer discusses the interference of souvenir hunters in the work of Army
intelligence officers who used documents and archives to gather information about
enemy assets, among other things. He also criticizes the lack of discipline evidenced in
the U.S. troop behavior at the German castle Leningen where troops "should have been
able to distinguish" between the liquor, anTIs and ammunition, or foodstuffs and the
neatly packaged and stored cases of ceramics and ethnological materials from the
Frankfurt Museum. 40 Other examples include the inappropriate billeting of soldiers at
.. the castle of Count Erbach-Flirstenau at Michelstadt and the subsequent damage t·othe
Notes of Dr. --~ Brandis, Technical Assi~tant; Wiesbaden Collecting Point, "Revision
of Paintings in Room 26 on February 17th 47," February 19, 1947, NACP, RG 260,
Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 56 [119525-119526]. The two missing Gurlitt paintings
. were: Teniers, Landscape with kfttles ?? and Marstrande, Italian Dance. The other two
paintings are described as "oil paintings on copper 14 by 17.5 cm by an unknown
.
..,
.
German painter of the 17th century."
38 Statement to the CID by Francis Bilodeau, Director of Wiesbaden Collecting Point, .
February 18, 1947, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection,Box 56 [119527-119528].
39 Statement to the CID by Francis Bilodeau, Director of Wiesbaden Collecting Point,
February 18, 1947, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 56 [119527-119528].
The 14 paintings o/th~ Stiidel Kunstinstitut,' Frankfurt had most likely come/rom Jewish
victims originally???
40 James Rorimer, Maimscript for Survival, "Education," p.3-4, Archives of American
. Art, James Rorimer Papers [bates riumber to be added].
37
�I
castle's archives; the disorder created by biouvaced soldiers at Castles Obringen and
Neuenstein, as well as the damage at Castle of Klein Haubach near Miltenberg. 41
,
A number of instances oflooting by U.S. troops were reported in a report to the
MFAA Art Intelligence Officer in March 1947. He reported!' 0-1'\ ~'£. ~
_A.number ofjrnportant jlu;taRs8S eflooting by U.S.
t~QQ~8
han been
..,...repl)l1."ed."'to"th:i'S·offite-by~.g1 ,.Qaaes, eRe at Schloss Bentinc~ ~
9B&-flf Schloss Neuenstein. It is illlfl88si81e a' thef)PeSel*"time~el4y,?~ C:.~
Cftfds-to.he made on each miSSing item from tRese two Castle§. 'fne
' di~ t'V.. " '
MFA&ft-fflfi:eel"'6'f-W'11'erttenrberg=~H'as requestealnat the owner of~
~. ~ ~j}Pcc:r
t
Scli'loss"'B'entirrck"be-a'l'luweli"to"'ente'f"e1emtany"ffdm-'FIOTl'a'n1l"'~0
S
I.
•
v.Jl...A..L
gi'V,~~~,~AtY,..t~~th~P~QP~...catds,.....:t:be.se&loss ~~
~
a~h1os'"s"'1"ll eue'nsteli:i"'.l1as'b""Ce'fit'tr'cf1TC"Sre-d"fO'"SU]Jp'ly!he
"
. 'N..A l;-U.JY\
catds,.oUl1a,t,qlsjl~,~llt9..g~_\1atds...\Mer.€..r.€ee4.y,€d.,fQr..ot er losses;i r~~'P-trt
Wuerttemberg-Baaen.lOne concerns a signed Rembrandt, dated 1657,
__ I
attributed, however, to Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck, the property of the ~. 0b ~
Wuerttembergische Staatsgalerie, believed to have ,been taken by ~nited \,U..AJLII. ~~ .
States troops before June 1945 from Schloss Taxis by Dischingen:)Three 0J..k:' ~~ ~
otherpainti~gs ar~ al~o n:issi~g,from the ~ame reposit0I?" It is be6eved fwt.~Schvl.OSStw:.l~\
that further Investigation In thiS theater mIght reveal their whereabouts. A TQoJ)U (~"1 d.e
valuable tea and coffee set was removed from the Deutsche Bank Erfurt
by U.S. troops, and also a geneolo[g]ial collection was taken from the
'home of Willy Hornschuch in December 1945. These likewise appear to
need further investigation in Wuerttemberg-Baden.42
.5;
10WI
.
James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Education," pA-7, Archives of American )' ~
The Erbac.~ collection housed
l~cb-~
fine armory, including historical piec~s and archive materials; the Obringen Castle was
~ t:re."':"(
overrun by troops despite the fact it was listed on the SHAEF list of protected
A.eeu...u .~- h ' J
monuments; the Klein Heubach Castle near Miltenberg'was damages through use by DPs
I
~l.e.
under SS instructions, after the war DP parties ruined much of the fine furnishings and
castle rooms.
.
42 _ _ to Art Intelligence Officer, "Weekly Report," March 4, 1947,NACP, RG 260,
Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 60 [119475-119476].
41
Art, James Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added].
,-V
�necessary. Items involved three.
Items involved seven. 43
Sev~n
cases dropped after investigation.
en details of the theft were unavailable but the items stolen were known, the
information was channeled through the military government in the hope of eventual
recovery and restitution. Such was the case with the theft of nineteen paintings from a
home in Mainleus bei Kulmbach, Germany. A list of the stolen works was submitted tO
I
the MFAA Specialist Officer in Bavaria who, in turn, forwarded the list to the Director of .
OMG Bavaria. With the list the officer noted the circumstarices of the paintings' remo~al
saying, "they were taken 14 April 1945 by Americans of an unknown unit which passed
through, the task ofrecovering them is rather herculean.,,44 The list was forwarded as the
officer felt it could be included in an "over-all attempt to retrieve looted art.,.45 The Chi!ef
of the Restitution Branch concurred and made the same recommendation when he
forwarded the list to the War Department and the D.C. based Roberts Commission. He
proposed the list be used "for inclusion in an all-over list of looted works of art, which
might .
serve for the purpose of investigation and eventual restitution.'.46
,
~ -hl .~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ .~e..~V'" tA.~crw~"
,
To Mr. Richard F. Howard, NIFA&A Section, Restitution Branch, Property Division,
OMGUS, Cable, FM UFB 17, December I,J948, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall
Collection, Box 67 [119478]. ~:'
,
44 1st Lt. Frank P. Albright, MFAA Specialist Officer to Director, OMG for Bavaria,
"Looted Paintings," April 18, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Property Division Record$, Box 228
19490].
,
.'
5 1st Lt. Frank P. Albright, MF AA Specialist Officer to Director, OMG, for Bavai'i;:t,
"LootedPaintingst April 18, 1946, NACP ,RG 260, Property Division Records" Box 228
[119490]. Listed as stolen by American troops from Friedrich Hornschuch on April 14,
·1945 are the following works: Spitzweg: Gebirgslandschaft (auJHolz) (Mountain
Landscape-on wood), Lowith: Vertraulichkeiten(Privacies), Hans Best: Disputierende
Bauern (?? Farmer), A. Lier: Lands(:haft mit Marterl (Leinwand) (Landscape with
Marterl- canvas), Wopfner: Fischer am Chiemsee (???), Ed. Schleich: AbendlandschaJt
(Pappe) (Evening landscape-pasteboard), H. BUrkel: Aufdem Pass (Leinwand) (On thel
pass-canvas), Zumbusch: Fischerin (Pappe) (???-pasteboard), Jules Dupres:
Holliindische Wohnstube (Leinwand) (Dutch living room-canvas), Hengelei: Landschaft
mit Liebespaar (Holz) (Landscape with???-wood), Lowith: Kardiniile im Disput (Holz) I
(Cardinals in dispute-wood), Defregger: Tiroler Dirndl (Leinwand) (???-canvas), StucK:
MiidchenkojJf (Holz) (Head ofa girl-wood), Spitzweg: Isarlandschaft '(Holz)(landscape
of???-wood), Schleich: Ackernde Bauern (Holz) (??? Farmer-wood), Defregger:
Miidchenkopf (Holz) (Head ofa girl -wood), Kohler: Kopfeiner alten Frau (Holz) (Head
ofan old woman-wood), Hengeler: Bauer, ganze Figur (Holz) (Farmer, wholefigure
wood), Gillardi: Kunstkritiker (Holz) (Art critic-wood) [119489; similar version to
119493].
.
46 Major L.B. LaFarge, ChiefMFAA Section to Reports Office, Restitution Branch,
"Transmittal of List to Roberts Commission," May 29, 1945, NACP, RG 260, Property
Division, Box 228 [119491].
43
,
.
II
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,
.
-iii., Below are a list and synopsis ofkn~wn cases (HIP; Alford)
, constructed from archIval information
1. Emrich - 2 paintings:"
"
,
U.S. AttomeYRS.Wilson wrote the Attorney General from Fort Smith,Kansas ~n
September 1950. Wilson relayed the, circumstances.inwhich Robert Einrich was
returning 2 paintings removed 'froni.'Europe during his serVice'there. Emrich surrender~d
the paintings during a visit from Wilson after he learned that the paintings' were ofPolish
origin and had been looted by "the notorious.Nazi, Governor~General F~anl(,'~ '~mrich
'had been contacted by the, State Department m S~ptember 1949, but ~aIted until he was
about to return to active service to return the paintings. Wilson asked if Emrich could I"
':nall!e or describe any of the other paintings that were contained the old palace where
he was"billeted and where he obtained possession of the two paintings in question, or if
'he knew whatidispositiorl. was made of any of the other paintings, and he stated that he '
could not give me any infommtion along that line as he did,notremember what the other
',
, '
paintings were or \.vhat became of them.,,47
2. Rhese Collection: The Collection Rhese, containing "objects an,d badges of the
,freemasonic andjewish cult/' was confiscated in August 1945 by Mr. S'turman from the
,Doc. Center, Freising': .. the ~emainder of the Collection not plunder~d,was storedin the
cellar of the Munich Buergerbraeukellerand in the ¢ellar of the Munich Residence.,,48 A
November 1946 letter from Bavarian authorities to MF AA Offi,c,ers details that th,eir 'I
investigation iev~aled that "a large part of the collection Rehse (sic) which had been left .
int?e reside~ce; w,ere r~bbed months ago (in May?r June). The remainder left behind
(com collection, collectIon of paper money,collectlOn of first World War food cards ana ,
many newspaper cuttings) were fetched by American cars on Sept. 21.49 ,Notes on a letfer
go further in describing the treatment of the 'Rhese' Collection ~aying it was "looted by ,
U.S. troops and D.P.s shortly after occupation in 1945. Nothing at all left. What was
,removed afew'weeks ago were merely the,metal stands in which the collection had been
.. "
. , .1'
placq{. No~eed to invest~gate this matt,erany further.,,50. ;
3.' .
Stem: Castle Stem, used as a Pres .mp,.Q..y,Jhe mIlItary post Furth, was}he SIte
ofinspectio
, '. oned and its contents use~ military occupation' ,
nta
Major Bedford's office questioned the procedure for the,
Jorces. Are
billets. In reference to the castle, she sai<;l that
mg of antiques in
1
in
1
1
"
"1
4~ RS. Wilson, Unite'd States AttorneytoThe:Attorney General, attn: Jame~ M.
,
'
:McInerney, "Your reference JMM:JDS:rnh 54-655; Two small paintirigs-;- Looted by
Nazis - now allegedly in possession ofE-obert Emrich, former Army Captain, 111 West,I
, . '
,
, ElmsStre~t, Rogers, Arkansas," September 15,1950, NACP, RG'59, Entry 3104A, Box
, [119468-119469].,."
, "
",.
"
4B"'Letter to Herbert S. Leonard from unidentified author (Ardelia Hall) , "Collection
Rhese," March 11, 1948; NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 278 [106063].
'
49 Max Sayler, Der BayerischesStaatsminister fur Unterricpt und Kultus to Office of
Military Government for Bavaria, "Books 'Buriedin the Rubble of theResideni,"
,
November 14,'1946, NACP, RG 260"Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 278 [106064].
50 Unidentified,handwritten note on Ittter-Office Memorandum, From c.m. to Edwin c.'
Rae, "Rehse Collection," Octobef'16~ 1946, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection,
..
,
.
Bpx 278 [106066].
. ' .
:-
"
.
�ot purchased for use, but inventoried so the owner can be paid "in case
e destroyed, damaged or have disappeared du .
. eo e
some of the objec
military occupation.,,51 An In
u e in ,the creation of an full
inventory and
t Commander to have the
mate'
secured.52
, 4. Castle Schwarzenbruck: One case handled by the Provost Marshall was the
disappearance of art objects from the Castle Schwarzenbruck. 53 Lieutenant Colonel F.
W. Marshall infomled the Provost Marshal of the U.S. Headquarters in Berlin of the
allegations of theft by members of the U.S. Army on January 14, 1946. 54 The allegations
were r:aised in two letters from the head of the Weimar StateArt Collections in 1945. dn
October 3, 1945, Dr. Scheidig wrote the following details:
~ The detachment in Schwarzburg which performed guard duty there during the two
months of the American occupation consisted of only about 60 men, so that a search fori
the offenders should not be difficult. It must be assumed that more than one person was
involved, since the soldiers had been talking for weeks about the art works in the rooms
and had used every opportunity to enter them. Undoubtedly the thefts were actually .
_ \ carried out only in the last hours before departure of the American troops on 1 July
--:D1945. 55
"
'
Scheidig provided further evidence for these allegations stating that,
I
the troops of the 15 th US Infantry Division under the command of Capt.
Paul Estes; stationed in Scwarzburg in June 1945, were charged to guard
the repository of paintings belonging to the State Collection of Art in the
castle of Schwarzburg. The keys were kept by Capt. Estes. There were
posts before the repositories and the rooms were marked by "off limits"
signs.
Immediately after the departure of the American troops on July 15t 1945 it
was observed that the doors of the repositories had been-broken open and
that pilfering had occurred. The traces of rubber-soles with American
inscriptions and the marly scattered cigarette-buts proved beyond a doubt
51 Memorandum, June 10, 1947, NACP, RG'260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 279
~106061].
'
"
2 Note on Memorandum, June 16, 1947, NACP, RG 260, ~de1ia Hall Collection, Box
279 [106061]. ,
53 Edwin Rae to OMGUS, MF AA Section, Restitution Branch, Economics Division, "Alt
Property in Castle Schwarzenbruck," September 14, 1946, NACP, Ardelia Hllll
Collection, Box 278 [106067].,
,
54 Lietuenant C;olonel F.W. Marshall, Adjutant General to U.S. Headquarters, Berlin
District, "Transmittal of Correspondence pertaining to Theft of Paintings from Castle
Schwarzburg," January 14, 1946, NACP, RG 260, ,Economics Division, Box 46
P06045].
"
'
5 Dr. Scheidig, Director of the State Collections of Art, Weimar to Dr. Zimmerman,
October 3, 1945, NACP, RG 260, Economics Division, Box 46 [106047].
�that the invaders were American soldiers. It was verified in the presence
ofwitnesses, that certain works of art were missing ... 56
In the list providing detail for thirteen of the lost paintings, one stands out as probably
.' coming from a victim. Paul Baum's Landscape in Marchtime near Weimar is described
57
,
as having been acquired in 1935 from a private collector.
I
~ In late July 1946 Major L.B. LaFarge requested a progress report on the return of objects
to the Castle.as well as on the objects presumed to bemissing. 58 On September 14 1946,
Edwin Rae sent a list of the objects missin& from the castle along with a iist of property!
".
'
already returned to the castle by that date~ 5 , ,
-seven manuscripts and
s were seized by Customs agents In ewYorkl
on January,
e materials were seized from Daniel Visnic, a crew
ber on
S
.
enry
,
, 5. Salzburg Coin Collection: ~ Sq.l;z./b'~ ~ ~.
tJj;,Cl.ffUt~,.~ .
Capt. Mackenzie ofthe MG Detaekffi~Ma.ueIHeR-JJ..JuJy,J945:and ~h;ri;cli ~ 19,'16
a...ta-~lJbte'firwtrlith~dTS'a1YI1errrmrce"(jftlre-&rl'Z15'ITi'g'eoin·eotrect'ion. Mackenzie
~
.
believed that the valuables which had been stored in the saltmine were not under his
~.
jurisdiction as of July 22, 1948 but was informed by the Captain Sattgast, MF AA Officer ,AtP4 l,a : ~
of the Area CQmmand, that the Coin Collection which should have been kept with the
~*
property taken from'the mine was missing. Mackenzie was asked to make an'
'
investigation, but by that time the original American personnel of the detachment had
been redeployed and indigenous employees of the detachment professed to have no
knowledge of the collection. 6o The investigation continued 'nonetheless based on local
authorities who recalled that the collection had been carried from the mine to
Berchtesgaden in June 1945 and the recovery of part of the collection ~hen'it was found
Dr. Scheidig, Director of the, State Collections ofArt, Weimar to Dr. Zimmerman,
"Lootings from the Property of the State Collections of Art in Weimar," October 12,
1945, inclosure to letter from Lt. Col. Marshall of January 14, 1946 [106046].
57 List of the paintings looted from the repository in Schwarzburg, inclosure to letter from
Lt. Col. Marshall of January 14, 1946 [106049-106051]. The painting is described
"Meadows with a brook, willow-trees and many crows. In the background the church
tower of Ehringsdorf near Weimar." The painting measured 22cm by 33 cm, was oil on
wood and was out of a frame in the repository. The painting was signed by the artist and
I
dated 1885. It is included in a book by C. Hitzeroth, Paul Brown, Dresden 1937, Plate 7.
58 Major L.B. LaFarge, ChiefMFA&A Section to Restitution Branch, Economics
Division, OMG Bavaria, "Art Property in Castle Schwarzenbruck," July 23, 19~6,
NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 278 [106068]; also found in RG 260,
Economics Division, Box 46 [106044].
59 Edwin Rae to OMGUS, MF AA Section, Restitution Branch, Economics Division, "AFt
Property in Castle Bchwarzenbruck," September ~4, 1946, NACP, Ardelia Hall
Collection, Box 278 [106067].
,,"
,
60 Evelyn Tucker, MF AA Representative, RD&R Division, USACA, Memo on Interview
with Howard Mackenzie re: "Salzburg Coin 'Collection," July 22, 1948, NACP, RG 260,1
. USACA Reparations and Restitution Branch, ENTRY # needed!, Box 160 [101731
101732].
,'
.,
56
�61
in a box in a Salzburg? Storeroom. In an additional interview about the collection,
Tucker spoke with Captain B.M Le Vein. Le Vein informed Tucker that American
officers took coins from the collection as souvenirs because a British Major told them
that they could do with the collection as they pleased. 62
.
3.. Conclusion for section
1. Culture of souvenir taking (Ambrose; NYT articl~; Bischof's quote
in Gold Train artic.le)
,
11. GIs with WWIIstuff (blurring of line bertween souvenir and a
valuable work of CP) N~f
111. Evaluation - how bad was theft/souvenir taking by GIS? ~ ~~
Market for cultural property
. 1. Some of the stolen items are entering the market/surfacting now:
Salzburg Stift (Cloisters) St. Peter's codex? Looted by an
American GI; Egyptian dealer sold book back to cloister.
Quedlingburg. Market effect; if there was a place to sell the stakes
for removal were higher. (link to neutrals paper?) - t1\.. v'\\AA~"\' ~.eA " •
--,""-,,I-I'<ecting Points'
... .
,
II.
1. Munich) -l.AM"t' Pt4rw) 0 h\.J,Ivo
.
~_~Krinner and Mimara
wie~" I ~,~;. ,,_.,~,
. ?"
) .."vt-v-v /""'t.IVYYl ~ .. "
2. Salz5urg
i. Gold Train information
\
ii. Tucker and her monthly reports (castles/officers' clubs)
3. Conclusio,ns: What kinds of problems are brought to light by these
:incidents
1. Non-US personnel who were needed because oflimited US
. personnel and scope' of operation'
11. Blurred distinction between military necessity and rewards for
conquering victims (Gold Train response/ Ambrose's argument)
111. Problems between diff(;,!rent forces'(fighting vs. occupation)
III.
.Investigative and Recovery Procedures
Again largely a, positive record. When efforts focused and the resources were available
the agencies responsible did the job. Krinner and Hesse Crown Jewels are mostly
success stories; while in the case of the removal of the Quedlingburg treasure U.S ..
authorities were not successful (facts known? but no action)
The loss of items during a period of combat proved most. difficult for the Army to
investigate. The reasons were mariy: the combat situation, the constant movement of
troops, the difficulty of tracing a ~tolen item. In April 1947 Andre Kormendi called the
j
r.vJt!.A.e
.
'
.
I
Evelyn Tucker, MFAA Representative, RD&R Division, USACA, Memo on Interview
with Howard Mackenzie re: "Salzburg Coin Collection," July 22, 1948, NACP, RG 260J
USACA Reparations andRestitution Branch, ENTRY # n~eded!, Box 160 [101731
101732].
. .
.
62 Evelyn Tucker, MFAA Representative, RD&R Division, USACA, Memo on Interview
with Captain B.M. LeVein re: "Salzburg Coin Collection," July 22~ 1948, NACP, RG I
260, USACA Reparations and Restitution Branch, ENTRY # needed!, Box 160 [10 1733
101734]..
61
..
,',
�,
.
continued investigation into a valuable manuscript removed from a Geiman home
"impossible,""as the unit in question has returned a long time ago to the States, and it
would be impracticable to'trace the disappearance of the manuscript to any single person,
the more so that the US government cannot assume responsibility for damage which
occurred during combat period.,,63
.
I
1. Tucker's frustrations (rants against obstructions, etc ...)
2. Destruction ofCID files (need archives memo with procedure); Rorimer's
reflections on the efforts of the MFAA and CID '
Regarding the performance of the CID, Rorimer noted:
The layman will often wonder why the CID office did not follow up more
of these cases. In the first place, they were busy with more serious
problems and even when the MF A&A officers prepared a case it was apt
to be, dependent upon allegations which could not be proven- the "corpus
delicti" rarely being available - and they usually were substantiated only
by the testimony of prejudiced Germans. The redeployment to the Pacific
before V-J day, and then to the United States, made difficult and
someti~es impossible the satisfactory investigation of these cases. I
should like to know what finally happened to a few which I pursued
dilligently for several months. My colleagues who have returned and
others who have remained in Germany do not seem encouraged by the
prospects of even settling most of them. 64
,
~he Criminal Investigative Division (CID) investigated allegations of criminal acts
(
"
involving U.S. military personnel. While most of their case load involved violent acts
including assault, rape and murder, they also investigated allegations of misconduct in
relation to property-both in cases of theft and mistreatment. Working with the Provost
Marshal of the Seventh Army, the CID investigated such allegations at Trendelburg
Castle in Germany in September 1945. The investigation was called after complaints ,
were received alleging theft and damage of property at the castle by American troops
when they occupied the castle from June 1-2 and 15-16, 1945. Investigation revealed th~t
American troops had occupied the castle from April 7 through April 22 as well. The CID
agent ~esponsible for the investig~tion wrot~ o!the cas.e that "[t]~e. units invol~ed her~ I
have smce been redeployed, makmg the fixmg of specIfic culpabIlIty patently ImpOSSIble
at this juncture.,,65'
,
,
63 Andre Kormendi, MF N A Officer Northern Bavaria to State Archives Niirnberg, attn:
Direktor Dr. Fridolin Solleder, "Loss of Valuable Manuscript in Feuchtwangen," April
17, 1947, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection; Box 265 [106436].
64 James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p. 9, Archives of American Art,
James Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added].
65 Criminal Investigations Division 7th Army, Report of Phillip Benzell, Agent CID, File
No. CID 480-33 (7lh Army) 1010, September 22, 1945, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall
Collection, Box 17 [105543-105549].
�"
....
The Criminal Police in Munich also assisted in the return of looted objects to the
American authorities. In early March 1946 radio and press announcements made by the
Police authorities re~u1ted in the return of six paintings and eight colored lithographs,66
~~~~~~~ at~~have ~r~o!~Crown
.
.---"
~~~~~~)j,~I~~O~
on ill1e
4. VIctlms had to come forward to pursue theIr claIms; wIthout such pressure
.
__~.!1dthe ~~~e~! ofsuc~ pressure, the investigation was dropped? ~ IZv-sv
5. ConclusIon
.
-'
"
.0
i. Victims' assets - no s~nsitivity except perhaps by the MFAA
I
"In the re-establishment of order and the re-education of the German people we must take
cognizance o(our own weaknesses. We cannot justify our own misdemeanors. The
American soldier returning from Europe may well b~ame his actions in foreign lands on
war, time conditions, and forgive himself and his compatriots because of the strain under
which he endured hardships and unforgivable atrocities of the enemy. The following
episodes are cause for introspection and show the need for future enlightenment.,,67
This is an important part of the record on the question of the U.S. handling of
victims' assets but the cases are not, on the whole, representative ofthe·behavior of the
U.S. forces. They are important to study, however, in any attempt to complete the .
. historical record on. the treatment of victims' assets by the U.S. authorities responsible for
their proteGtion.
66 For Captain Rae, "Pictures received following Press and Radio anno~mcement about
looted pictures through Criminal Police, Munich, taken to Art Collecting Point 1 Mar
46," NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, File: Hitler Linz Museum V - Retrieved
Hitler: paintings;' Box 427 [120119]. For Captain Rae, "Pictures received following Press
and Radio announcement about looted pictures through Criminal Police, Munich, taken
to Art Collecting Point 6.March 1946," NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, File:
Hitler Linz Museum V - Retrieved Hitler paintings, Box 427 [120120]. By March 1, the,
returns included three oil paintings and eight lithographs. Between March 1 and March (5
three additional paintings were returned.
67 James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival,"Education," p.2, Archives of American Art,
.
.
.
. James Rorimer Papers [b,lt~~j~umQer to be added].·
.
t
�t~
o:1(i ~~ .
I~
r.
,'~i Al1~gations
')
i
r
_
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-
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L~4 dVV'~ is'
:eq~isitioning
ev~n.
-
MHi\
I\~ F""J
of mis.c?nduct, poo:
practices: and
!ooting have beer
leveled agamst the U.S:· Il!Ihtary authontles m the past for behavIOrs exhIbIted by U.S. forces
during and after World War II. This paper does not seek to raise such allegations or to disqhaliry
those that have already been well documented. Instead it is rR88fl:t tI& examine5the particul~
relationship of the U.S. forces in their role as custodians of victims' art and cultural property and .
to evaluate them in this capacity alone. ~:Fhr. this,exeroise it is pessibl® te say that tWe S.
ottgh
forces did an admirable job safeguarding. . later restituting-victims' art and cultural
property. rrh~record is a largely positive one i'i'ithtttThey restituted millions of cultural o~jects
(c.r Numbers paper). Thus, the cases disctissed below are not illustrative of the general be~avior
of U.S. forces. However, they highlight areas where the U.S. forces experienced d.i.f.ti.£!!!ty in
their responsibility for victims' art a~ets. TM~a~9!S!: theft of objects in the field; lapsbs in))
the security of collecting poi~ts; and investigative procedures that were incapable oftrackirlg ,
assets or allegations of misbehavior through to either the punishment of responsible individ6als
or'the recovery of stolen object9_
u
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~l
''''
... '
~ ...INTROQU~TION:
'7
~-
c.,h.-J.
v-.f=t\::A
(~~~( - r~~;:t
)
---
.
",\.V-""
The Roberts CoIl11'i:lission and the MFAA Officers of the United States military worked with
the intention to protect, salvage, and even restitute all manner of works of art and cultural
property in Europe. Reviews of the successes of these organizations have been widely
published.! Recently much has been added to the historical record of their efforts that criticizes
the same groups through a review of some of the problems they faced. 2 Both approaches triust
be regarded with care in an evaluation of the U.~. as custodians of victims' assets.
Many different kinds of criticisms of U.S. troop behavior have always existed, beginning·
with Gennan, and later Soviet, propaganda. Gennan propaganda, of the sort exemplified bblow,
.
I
must be disregarded as patently false: "It has long been known to the world that the Gennan
soldiers do not pillage or destroy works of art in Anglo-American fashion, but that, on the
contrary, they are used to rescue works of art from destruction, staking their lives in order to
f
preserve them for their owners. 3
.
,
While such sentiments can only be considered as propaganda and false, rumors abo}!t
misbehavior by U.S. troops did not go ignored by U.S. officials then or now. In theimmediate
post-war period.one such official, Sumner Crosby of the Roberts Commission, reported aftbr a
trip to Europe that "ruI!l0rs of indiscriminate looting by American and British soldier~ in
I
I
Jonathan, should I use a cite here? Rape of Europa, Monuments Men, Salt Mines and Castles ...or even
..
I
archival The Roberts Commission Final Report or MFAA Final Reports?
2 Kenneth Alford, Klauss Goldmann. Peter Hardlerode and Brendan Pittaway, The Lost Masters: The
Looting of Europe's Treasurehouses(Orion, London, 1999). This most recent book is especially cntical
going so far as to allege that: "It is an unpalatable but inescapable fact that Allied troops did indulgb in
large-scale looting of art in Gennan during the imp1ediate post-war period. The majority of such ~as,
carried out by personnel of the US Anny largely because most of the Nazi repositories were located in
the areas occupied by American forces ~ and involved officers and men of all ranks from general t6
private." (p. 164)
.
.
. I
3 "Organized Robbery of Arts Monuments in the United States: Commission in order "to prevent art
.
I
monuments from demolition by war," unattributed German propaganda, undated, NACP, RG 239, Box 42
[110933-110934].
'.
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•
,: I,.
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·.P u ~C){ ~::
~
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~ PrLCP;{-(t:;~~
�Germany had be~n substantiated by reliable eyewitnesses.,,4 Further problems he cited included
eff limits signs being ignered, an absence ef centrol ever shipments to. the United States, ahd
allegatiens tliat "erganized leoting squads" were used to. secure essential materials and I
.
feedstuffs. While Cresby feund that "it is generally believed that leeting efvaluable ebjects is
,
limited to. small pertable items," he neted that, "there are instances leading te.the belief that
paintings and ether cultural material ef real value are being taken and shipped heme by I
individuals and enlistedmen." These alleged shipments invelved persenal preperty ef efficers
and seldiers as they were reassigned er were made directly "frem the front to. family and frliends
at heme," semetliing Cresby blames en t4~·fact that "no. centroI is being exercised ever suth
shipments, which eften include bexes large eneugh to. centain impertant paintings."s
Despite the existence efpropaganda and criticism that argues to. the ce'ntr~, net enly is
evidence ef an erganized gevernment-sanctieriedleeting preg~am nenexlstent~ b~t there is no.
evidence that acts ef individual misapprepriatien ef victims' assets. were WIdespread. The cases
that de exist then, merit attentien and review in erder to. better understand allegatiens against
U.S. fOrces, but areilohobetaken as illust:r:ative efthe behavier efthe military as an insti,utien
er as the result ef any pelicy efthe United States gevernment. James Rerimer, ene efthe I .
eriginal MFA&A Officers, wrete that due to. the nature efhis assignment, he "was in a pesitien
. to. hear abeut and investigate casesefmisappropriatien and. vandalism." Yet in his estimatien
'
"there was never:any evidence ef large scale misapprepriatien ef ebj ects ef art ·ef great I
impertance by the Arriericans.,,6 He described the problems he did witness: "[w]e have ali heard
steries ef seuvenir cellecting, but except in a few instances these were net tales ef items ef
I
intematien[ al] impertance," and that, "the average efficer or seldier rarely has a flare fer
cellecting ebjects efreal value, and ifhe dees, he is apt to. be acquainted with the regulatiens andpenalties.,,7
.
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a.
R~gUlatioDs against Looting
..
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The U.S. ferces in the Eurepean Theater had regulatiens and pelicies prehibiting tijeft
that were shaped in accerdance with. the Hague. Cenventien en Land Warfare and the Articles ef
War, specifically; Article 93.
..
..
'.
·1
'In additien, numerous pelicies in the U.S. zenes efGermany and Austria preventeq the
purchase er transfer efwerks ef art to. prevent U.S. ferces frem acquiring werks that may lIave
. beenleeted. The Cemmander-in-Chieffer each eccupied area was Issued instructiens enfu€ID ~
respensibilities that included taking "all practicable measures to. facilitate the eventual rest~tutien
efwerks of art...which may have been leeted frem Allied Gevernments er Natienals." A±neng
the prepesed measures were: the enforcement ef prehibitiens en the "sale, mevement er I
~
cencealment," ef art assets, the preventien ef "unnecessary er wanten damage" to. structures arid
,
.
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Sumner Cro.sby, memo. to. Ro.berts Co.mmissio.n, "Interim Report, April 6 - April 17, 1945," April 18,
1945, NACP, RG 260, Arddia Hall Co.llectio.n, Bo.X 39 [bates number to. be added].
I
5 Sumner Crosby, memo. to. Ro.berts Co.mmisSi9n, "Interim Repo.rt, April 6 - April 17, 1945," April 18,
1945, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Co.llectio.n, Bo.X 39 [bates number to.be added].
I
f> James Ro.rimer, Manuscript fo.r Survival, "Educatio.n," p.l, Archives o.f American Art, James Ro.rimer
Papers [bates numberto. be added].
'. .
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7 James Ro.rimer, Manuscript fo.r Survival, "Educatio.n," p.l, Archives o.f American Art, James Ro.rimer
Papers [bates number to. be added].
4
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2
"
' \
~.g
S~~·
·x
�'-,
monuments, and the creation of regulations at the Commander-in-Chiefsaw fit "to ensure that
.
full respect is pai~" to the structures and objects under their command. 8 .'
These s~~ere implemented in the
zones of Germany and Austria in a
number ofregulations"that prohibited the acquisition of goods, especially looted victims' gbods,
in any way. One such pol~cy was set forth in the prohibition on transfers of art objects prepared
by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces in August 1944:
u.s.
I
Except as,hereinafter provided or when licensed or otherwis~ authorized or
, directed by Military Government, no person shall acquire or receive, sell, transfer,
'export, hypothecate or otherwise dispose of, destroy, damage, conceal Of
surrender possession, custody or control of...any work of art or cultural material
of value or importance ... 9
.
'
,,'
U.S. personnel were not to acquire, 'through sale, export, transfer or theft, art or cultural
property that came under the control of the U.S. authorities unless they received direction
by the Supreme Authority of the zone that such actions were. permissible. ,10
.
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b.' V~ctims' assets vs. regular property
Finally, in pursuing questions about U.S. military forces behavior in relation to victims'
assets it must be kept in mind that' pnly arts officers investigating art works and claims kndw and
investigated the provenance of art and cultural objects. When ar,t: caches were discovered kd art
repositories were establiS~Y u.s. forces, it was not always readily apparent which of the
materials had he~n looted
ictims and which were being stored by individual owners o~
museums. II Thus, the overall security of installations run by the Americans for the protection of
victims' art assets becomes an important part ofthe evaluation into their behavior.
.
~
,
.~
heft in the Field
1. Intro to subject;
,
.
.,
Draft Directive to the (US)(UK)(US~R) Commander-in-Chief, "Control of Works of Art and
Monuments," September 14,)944, NACP, RG 239, Box 37 [bates number to be added].
9 Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force~ unsigned, "Confidential Draft fqr Property Control
Ordinance," August 18, 1944, NACP, RG 239, Box 37 [bates number to be added]. Additional mJterials
that the regulations applied to included the following categories of property under U.S. control: Gcirman
Reich, Enemy nattons, the NSDAP,individuals held in custody by MG officials, property with ab~ent
owners, and thpseannounced by the military government.,
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10 Draft Directive to the (US)(UK)(USSR) Commander-in~Chie~, "Control of Works of Art and
Monuments," September 14, 1944, NACP, RG 239, Box 37 [bates numbet to be added]
i
11 For instance, in the Merkers mine there were bags of camp loot that were clearly identifiable as rictims'
loot, yet in the same mine there were the paintings of the Berlin museums-not all o/which was lqot.??
For a would be thi.efthe distinction between a victims' art object and that of a museum or other inQividual
was practically non-existant.· When Krinner stole jewels from the Munich CCP he had no knowledge that
they were valuabl~ jewels from the RothschIld collection. Instead he believed them to be lamp I
attachments and gave them to his children as playthings. Edgar Breitenbach wrote that "he [KrinRer]
I
doubted that he could dispose of them and suggested that his smaller children might like to play with
them., .He never recognized the pieces as pendants but thought they were some lamp attachment.,,1
8
3
�,,0
The culture in which the United States forces lived and operated is important to
understand when 'reviewing their performance. Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers argurs
....-----..
such a point by :
i
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itis worth pausing ...to see the Americans as conquerors through the microcosm
"ofE Company. They took what they wanted, but by no means, did they rape,
loot, pillage, and burn their way through Germany. If they did not respect
property rights, in the sense that they commandeered their nightlx billets without
compensation, at least when the Germans moved back in after they left, the place
was moreor less intact. Of course there were some rapes, some mistreatment of
individual Germans, and some looting, but it is simple fact to state that other
conquering armies in WWII, perhaps most of all the Russian but. including the
Japanese and German; act~fferently.12·
I
Rorimer also reflected on the practices of the American soldiers in comparison to those ofbther
~'
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, , '
Nazi vandalism and looting have homfie~ the world. Our armies were guided by
directives which reduced to a minimum the old idea that "to the victor belong the
spoils." Such objects as cameras and binoculars were often interpreted as being
justifiable trophies or souvenirs of war, bufeven the confiscation ofthese from
civilians was outlawed by specific orders. NO individual was permitted to enrich
himself in time of war by taking paintings from museum collections, rugs from
private homes, coins arid stamps from momentarily abandoned buildings, or '
silverware handed down from generation to the next generation. Our soldiers'
were subjected to temptations, and more than will ever be recorded was destroyed
or shipped home. But, the total monetary value of such things is relatively slight,
and the value of the cultural objects which disappeared is infinitesimal in
proportiop. to what was actually saved. A representative of U.S. customs mail
Division estimated that about 6,000 to 8,000 inspectors would have been required
to screen completely ...the shipments from Germany and Austria (c.f. customs
paper). No one will ever know how great was the actual quantity of "liQerated"
"
'
items mailed to home. 13
,..........,~ /
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The fear that such efforts would be needed was grounded in the sentiments expreJed in
i
an article published in Yank Magazine. Written as a.1etter to '''Herr Franz von Papen,
Somewhere in Europe," from Sergeant Saul Levitt, a Yank Staff Correspondent in
I
Wallenfangen, Germany, the column described how Americans came upon his estate and how
they treated it saying: '
--'-',
.
:.1
Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers (Simon & Schuster, New York 1992), 257-258. Band of
th
Brothers is a history of the E Company, 506 Regiment of the 101 51 Airborne Division. The booklfollows
the men ofE Company from their invasion of Europe on D-Day through the'battles which took them to
Berchtesgaden, Germany and Salzburg, Austria by war's end.
. I
13 James Rorimer,'Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p.1, Archives of American Art, James R6rimer
Papers [bates number to be added].
.
.
12
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�...It was during this major opera~ion of carrying over and supp~ying the divisioh·-1 ·..·'\
of the east bank of the Saar that tlie engineers decided to use your estate for a kind .
of combination restc'amp an<;l command post. American soldiers, as you know,'
have no particular interest in great names, so it did not interesHhem very much
that the house belonged to one of the biggest names in Germari political life. I
regret to ipform you that they showed no reverence or respect whatsoever for the
reputation of the place.
.. .Herr von Papen, your caretaker made a blunder, I think, in sealing up some of
the rooms below the stairs. All soldiers are curious, and American soldiers are
particularly curious. Besides, these soldiers were engineers, which made things
doubly unfortunate. With tools of their trade at hand, they natunillyblew and
crowbarred open these sealed rooms and removed your stores of cognac. '
,
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I
. . .I wish in closing to tell you that the trip to your home was very interesting.
\
Who would hav:e thought a few years ago, marching up a ramp at Penn Station , I
. into the Army, that the muddy shoes of American soldiers would ever tramp the
stairs of the home·of Franz von Papen? Will Herr Hitler's Berchtesgaden be like
this? .. As I left Wallenfangen that evening, everything below in the valley was
) .
shrouded in battle smoke. Every time a shell burst, the sky lighted up and the
whole valley seemed to heave as if Germany herselfwere heaving and dying. 14 • _~)
I
Such an expression of sentiment illustrates the concern that U.S. soldiers did have a fair' ~lount .
I
of curiosity-even in the heat of battle-for the homes apd possessions of those against whom
they were fighting. Such behavior, mostly. limited to the sampling of alcohol reserves and I .
perhaps the filching of military regalia and war trophies, seems to have occupied more American
attention than anyo!her pattern of theft-.especially more so than thefts of victims' art andl
cultural property. finstances oftheft and misbehavior exist, however, and warrant further study ~t t#~
in order to detepnine how U.S. officials understood and carried out its responsibilities for
victims' assets.)
.
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2. We do not know how many cases of theft of cultural property by U.S. forces
o~curred be~ause a successful theft is, by its nature, one that remains
undetected; destruction of files.
.
.
I
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I
~ile we do·not know how many cases of theft of cultural property by U.S. forcesi I
occurred because a successful theft is, by its nature, one that remains undetecte~e Army's ~).
Criminal Investigations Division was the office responsible, along with the Provost Marshkl, for
I
investigations into any and all allegations or cases of a criminal nature. The eID agents W;ere
contacted when it .was thought a work of art may have been stolen, as in the case of theftslfrom
the Munich CCP. While the Provost Marshal and CID worked on these types of investigations
throughout the'W'ar and postwar period, minimal records survive for consultation and analysis.
The CID transferred materials relating to one case, the theft of the Hesse Crown Jewels, td the
National Archiv~sand Records Adm~nistration, however all other case files8systematidally
.
.
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14 Yank StaffCorr~spondent, Sgt. Saul Levitt to Herr F~anz von Papen, Wal1enfagen,Gerrnany, Undated,
NACP, RG 260, Economics Division, Box 116 [119271-119273].
5
�destroyed after forty'years. IS Records that have survived, including statistical surveys of
criminal investigations provide far too few 'details to evaluate correctly whether or not victims'
16
asse~s were involved. IJD£~:e)~111m
.
3. Reports that dq exist' of cases to review
.
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'_J _
,~1.
v..dV - . .
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In heu of thes~s~ files and the eVIdence they mayor may not'Provlded, we mus~ rely
•
i
on known reports ofGtnd treat them as illustrative ofthe types ofproblems faced bythe U.S.
.
authorities in their responsibili~ for victims' art and cu~tural p~opert~.. ' '
Records o,fthe smallest Instances of theft and mIsbehavIOr eXIst In the memos, repQrts
and other correspondence of the property control officers and MFAA officials throughout I
Europe. ???For instance, ,a May 1945 memo noted that American soldiers were entering a home
,
in Briennerstrasse, disturbing the art collection there and giving away items from the resid6nce to
, l
their girlfriends. 17
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On April 21, 1944 the Supreme Allied Commander of the Mediterranean Theat~rote
concerning the problem of unauthorized conversion of private property. H.M. Wilsoinot~d that
"organizations arid individuals of our armed forces have destroyed or removed, without I
at1;thority, from billets and buildings in this theater, furniture and furnishings belonging to flrivate
individrials.,,18
.
I
Wilson's.concern at these complaints was that: "these offenses show a lack of discipline
and bring into disrepute the hpnesty and integrity of our armed forces.' Permitting or tolerating
1
such acts is a derdiction of duty and co~titute a reflection on the efficiency ofthe
Commanders." Wilson further suggestithat "there are authorized means by which civilian
property of any kind necessary to the war effort can be procured," and expresses his d~sire Ithat
I
.
"immediate actio.n be takei\ t~!:~~,I;,}E:~!!,eeopriated property.and to guard against
recurrences OfthI,S nature." 9 ~~~tlt2~,tlI~,~
.
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MFA&A Officers wo~ked to pmt££,! monuments and art and cultural assets from th~
dangers of war, DP's and enemy armies, as well as from US. troops themselves. Such eff6rts
we!:!'! described in February 1945 report about the disappearance of objeCts from Schloss I
Rlinburg: . The officer noted that the disappearance:
.
crn.
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15 CITE with assistance of Paul Brown pet inquiries into the records ofthe
Also note the locdtion of
the. Hesse files and.:the statistical surveys of the Criminal Investigations Branch~.
.'.
16 Continue cite above with discussion here of the files used by the PCHA.·
.
17 Major Edward LBerry, Jr., Property Control Officer to Lt Kern, MuniCh Property Control Section,
memo, May 22, 1945, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 277 [119539]. The home bel6nged
to Baroness Esseoe (or Esseo).·
..
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IS H.M. Wilson, Supreme Allied Commander, -Mediterranean Theater to Commander-in-Chief, Allied
Armies in Italy, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, Air Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, arid the
General Officer Commanding, North Africa District, "Unauthorized Conversion of Private PropertY,"
April 21, 1944, NACP, RG 331, Entry SHAEF, File: l30 G-5 Fine Arts, Box 272 [117236].
19 H.M. Wilson, Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater to Commander-in-Chief, Allied
Armies in Italy, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, Air Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, arid the.
General Officer Cqmmanding, North Africa District, "Unauthorized Conversion of Private PropertY,~'
April 21, 1944, NACP, R~331, Entry SHAEF, File: l30 G-5 Fine,Arts, Box 272 [117236].
I'
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6
I
�may be symptomatic of a development which promises to be most serious· for
MFA&A in Gerniany. Undoubtedly, the Allied troops, both US and British, have
far less regard for property in Gerinany than they have hitherto displayed in
Allied territory. In view of the enemy policy of dispersal of art objects for
safekeeping against air attack, the dariger to art objects of wanton damage of
pilfering by Allied troops has become a major consideration. This is
fundamentally a problem of military discipline, and strong representations have
been made on this question to the appropriate military authorities by MFA&A
2o
officers a~ alllevels.
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James Rorimer hoped to inspire troop discipline by using the Pless that followed troops in their
art cache discoveries. He wrote, "Of a discussion with Colonel James of the Seventh ArmY,
Rorimer recounted: "in France I had operated behind the cover of possible claims against
government and Franco-American relations; in: Germany I could expect little or no sympatpy for
'German works of art from the Army. I had to stress the art looted by the Germans from other
countries.,,21 mtYA1!F::!~i~tW:sl~s;s!g~~JL~
,
qur
~
Rorimer
in great detail to'describe the damage done to the villa of Herr v0t;l ,
l
Limburgers in Reutti Italy. The damage, ranging from stolen silver, china, watches, linens , and ,"
arti~les of clothing, to broken furniture, to a week-long bonfire held in the backyard, was J
painstakingly relayed by the villa's owners in a letter of protest to the Commanding Officer of
the Military Gov~rnment in Ulm, Italy.22 In his investigation of the problems in Reutti, R6rimer
was greatly troubled ~he lack of discipline evidenced in the remains he visited. ,Other
disturbing instances ~cited at the University of Marburg Law Library, and the looting o;f
books from the Kunsthistoriches Institut housed at the New Universi~ Building of Heidelberg. 23
Relating to such problems, he reflects, "these instances prove the inability of an army, hoJever
well intentioned its higher policy, to cope with such conditions during a period of disorder!. No
one officer, no group of officers in any army in the world, can discipline the men under battle
conditions ... [w]e obviously did not have sufficient MFA&A officers to protect many oftHe most
important repositories. At home we have our civilian authorities tokeep people in line with our
laws. Our institutions have their doors which lock and their own systems of guards. The
defeated Germans were completely disorganized and could not f,rotect cultural objects in
buil~ings from which they were evicted by military personnel." 4.,
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The approach to Berchtesgaden brought the promise of increased exposure to the Jssets'
of the victims of Hitler's confiscation program. Ambrose writes,
I
.
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Report on Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives for theMonth of February 1945, SHAEF, G-5 Internal
Affairs Branch, March 31, 1945, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 137 [111010-111d15).
21 James Rorimer, Manuscript of Survival, Archives of American Art, James Rorimer Papers [batds
,
I
number to b~ added).
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22 James Ronmer, Manuscnpt for Survival, "EducatIOn," p. 11-13, ArchIves, of Amencan Art, James
Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added].
23 James Rorimer" Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p. 13-14, Archives of American Art, James
Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added].
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24 James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p.14, Archiv~s of American Art, James Rorimer
,I .
Papers [bates.number 'to be added].
2Q
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It was to the Berchtesgaden area that much of the loot collected by the Nazis from
all over Europe had come. The place was stuffed withmoney, in gold and in '
currency from a dozen countries, with art treasures (Goering's collection alone
containedlRembrandts, a Van Gogh, a Renoir, and much more). It was bursting
with booze, jewelry, fabulous cars.
So Berchtesgaden was really two magnets: the symbolic home of Hitler's mad
lust for power, and the best looting possibilities in Europe. Everybody wanted to
get there-·French advancing side by side with the 101 S\ British coming up from
Italy, German leaders who wanted to get their possessions, and every American in
Europe.
Easy Company got there first. 25
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The 101 st moved out by convoy between Salzburg and Munich by May 4, 1945. By the morning
th
of May 5 they had arrived in Berchtesgaden and taken the town without firing a single shbt.
I
Ambrose writes bfthe activitIes on that first day:
1\
Accommodations were the first order of business. Winters and Lieutenant Welsh
went to the Berchtesgaden Hof. .. There was no need for orders ... ' The Americans
!
split the slIverware between them. Forty-five years later, both men were still
using the Berchtesgaden Hofs silverware in their homes.
I
After getting what he most wanted out .of the ~lace, Winters then put a double
guard on the hotel "to stop further lootmg ..." 6
,'
"
"
... "It was a unique feeling," Winters recalled. "You can't imagine such power as
'
we had. Whatever we wanted, we just took.'.27
James Rorimer agreed that the looting and such over-indulgences as described abo~e
were problematic: at a meeting with the' Commanding Officer of the 101 st Airborne Divisi~m,
General Taylor, and a G-5, representative;Major Smith, discussing Goering art matters R6rimer
reviewed with him the looting and lack of security, stressing the Della Robb,llt incident as
typica1. 28 In that incident, a piece of sculpture was smashed because of the carelessness ofU:S.
personnel. Rorimer told the General of other incidents including recovering "a painting of the
Watteau school from one of the, CIC agents that very morning~" The agent mentioned thaf he
had found it in t4e Berchtesgaden home of Colonel General Lorzer and "thought tha~ it mi1ght be
a nice souveni~." Roij~er writes of being "greatll disturbed fearing that works of art of g~eat
value would dIsappear m less honorable hands.',2
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-2s-S-- p
1
te -h-en-E-.Am--b-ro-s-e-,B-a-n-d-o-fBrothers (Simon & Schuster, New York 1992),272.
26 Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers (Simon & Schuster, New York 1992),273-4.
27 Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers (Simon '& Schuster, New York 1992),276-7. Add to discussion
of what U.S. forces could be criticized for.. Jooting in celebration or of goods because they could)
28 The "Della Robbia incident," occurred when U.S. forces, though generally prohibited from handling art
and cultural property, broke two important Italian art o b j e c t s . '
29 James Rorimer,: Ma,nuscript of Survival, p. B 15, Archives of American Art, James Rorimer Papers
[bates number to be added].
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F!~t~~IIf.m!~mq'iranl$j~a:!~pfi~~lEr~~i~f~p.cgiilirIQ,Q:tm~! It was no} .
always clear who ,was responsible for damage to buildings and collections. Such was the c~se
with Castle Ellewagen, American Army security troops reported that "previous occupants'!
burned importanthistoricalletters of Marie-Antoinette and Napoleon, desecrated the chap¢l, and
pulled paintings down from the walls. Rorimer hints that the damage resulted from "one of our.
divisions, which didn't have a very good reputation for taking care of properties-they were/
magnificent in combat-we will probably never know.,,30 Castles around the German countryside
experienced similar problems from the "liberation" of a book on Napoleori from the shelve1s of
I
Castle Jagsthausen by an.un.ident!fied American g~neral to th.e removal of historic arms I'
"protected" by an "Off LImIts" SIgn from a house III Adelsheim. 31
.
AJ\
A number of instances of looting by U.S. troops were noted in a report to the MF
Art
Intelligence Officer in March 1947. Allegations were made of looting by U.S. troops at Sqhloss
r Bentinck, Schloss Neuenstein and other repositories in Wuerttemberg-Baden. Property caMs
V indicating the stolen items were unavailable for the items from the castles, but nine other c~rds
had been received for the other losses in the area. 32 Further investigation in the theater waS
suggested.
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Abn
In addition to' fearing the mistreatment of victims' art. and cultural properties, the
y
expressed concer,n about souvenir huntet§. At Schloss Eppstein in Weisbaden Germany tHe
.f') _ caretaker compl~ined about acts of vandalism by American soldiers and though the castle I
1'" contained "nothing of exceptional value," it was felt the objects would be "very tempting tp
souvenir collectors." An off limits sign was approved for posting at the castle to deter such
. 33
. . .
behaVIOr.
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~<@~!igl!!tgJJgfff<~~ittQemlm~
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While the MFAA Offipers and the Army worked very hard to maintain secure locations
for art in their custody, to protect and eventually restitute that art, admittedly there were I .
problems. Some, of these problems resulted from having too few·officers with arts training in the
Ame~iCan
James Rorimer, 'ManUSCriPt for Survival, "Education," p. 7, Archives of
Art, James RLimer
Papers [bates number to be a d d e d ] . '
.
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31 James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p. 7-8, Archives of American Art, Jamesi
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Rorimer Papers [bates number to be added].
.
32
.
to Art Intelligence Officer, "Weekly Report," March 4, 1947, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall
Collection, Box 60 [119475-119476]. In reference to the reported losses, one of the cards was forla "a
signed Rembrandt, dated 1657, attributed, however, to Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck, the propertY of
",
I
the Wuerttembergische Staatsgalerie, believed to have been taken by United States troops before ~une
1945 from Schloss Taxis by Dischingen." Three other paintings were alleged to be missing from the
same repository. Additional infromation covered a valuable tea and coffee set "removed from the I
Deutsche Bank Erfurt by U.S. troops, and also a geneolo[g]ialcollection was taken from the home of
Willy Hornschuch in December 1945." The report suggest further investigation in wuerttembergtBaden
for all of these allegations and missing p r o p e r t y . . .
I
33 Maurice de Vienna to Captain Patrick 1. Kelleher, Land MFA&A Officer, memo, March 8, 1946,
NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 16 [105550].
:
30
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field. Such was the rationale provided when the Army responded to an article concerning the
AA Section, wrote to
theft ofa' painting by de Moucheres. ,Richard Howard"Chlef of the
request more information aoout the stolen painting and the theft so as to make an effort fori
MF
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At the present there are only a handful ofMoninnents, Fine Arts and Archives
officers on duty in the European Theater and it is obviously impossible' for them
to guard every painting and valuable work of art.
I can, however, assure you that the vast bulk of the German collections in the
American Zone have been saved and that the pilferage has been slight and what
stealing has been done has been shared by the Germans themselves and various
DP's. It is a matter of great regret to all of us that American~ so far forgot
themselves that they, too, sometimes abstracted property.
,
.
.
It is to our mutual interest that all items be restored to the rightful country and
rightful owner and to that and it is only such aid as you can give us that will
enable us ,to translate an idealistic hope into concrete and positive action. 34
Rorimer discussJthe interference of souvenir hunters in the work of Army intelligence
officers who used documents ~~d archives to gather information about enemy assets, amortg
other things. He also criticize(the lack of discipline evidenced in the U.S. troop behavior ~t the
German@stle Leningen where troops "should have been able to distinguish" between the ~iquor,
arms and ammunition, or foodstuffs and the neatly packaged and stored cases of ceramics and
ethnological materials from the Frankfurt Museum. 35 Other examples include the inappropriate
billeting of soldiers at the castle of Count Erbach-Fiirstenau at Miche1stadt and the subseq~ent
damage to the castle's archives, the disorder created by biouvaced soldiers at Castles Obrihgen
!
and Neuenstein, as well as the damage at,Castle of Klein Haubach near Miltenberg. 36
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~e~Qwn~~e
information was c anne e t ou h,QIe mmt'!!y~~ent in the' hope of eventual recov~ry and
restltu IOn. uc' was the case with the theft ofnineteenp'aintin'gs om a orne main e'qs
Kulmbach, Germany. A list of the stolen works was submitted to the MFAA Specialist Officer
in Bavaria who, in tum, forwarded the list to the. .
Director ofOMG Bavaria.. With the list the
,
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officer noted the circumstances ofthe paintings' removal saying, "they were taken 14 April 1945
by Americans of an unkriown unit which passed through, the task of recovering them is rather
.
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34 Richard F. Howard, ChiefMFAA Section to Miss Alvena Sechar, New York, New York, Febru~ry 26,
. 1947, NACP, RG 260, Economics Division, Box 115 [119564].
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35 James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p.3-4, Archives of American Art, James ,
Rorimer
.
Papers [bates number to be added].
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36 James Rorimer, ,Manuscript for Survival, "Education," pA-7, Archives of American Art, James Rorimer
Papers [bates number to be added]. The Erbach collection housed fine armory, including historicril pieces
and archive materials; the Obringen Castle was overrun by troops despite the fact it was listed on the
. SHAEF list of protected monuments; the Klein Heubach Castle near Miltenberg was damages thr~)Ugh
use by DPs under SS instructions, after the war DP parties ruined much of the fine furnishings and castle
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rooms.
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herculean.,,37 Th~ list was forwarded as the officer felt it could be included in an "over-aU
attempt to retrieve looted art. ,,38 The Chief of the Restitution Branch concurred and made the
•
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same recommendation when he forwarded the list to the War Department and,the D.C. based
Roberts Commission. He proposed the list be used "for inclusion in an all-over list of lootbd
works of art, which might serve for the purpose of investigation and eventual restitution. ,,3
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One problem in the pursuit of items removed by American soldiers was that in purs;uing '\
4o
the piece, o~ bad to be careful in hQw thd.u.Q.itidual..tesp.oRsible..was..p.w:su.e.d. Such diffjiculty \
was experienced in connec'tion to efforts to recover a jeweled figurine looted from the Genrtan
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Miinnheimer family and then removed to the United States by an American serviceman. Three
letters w~re submitted to the Commissioner of Customs testifying that the object had been
41
removed from a locker in a room in which American soldiers were to be billeted. While
substantiated by the memories of two colleagues, the serviceman's recollection of the incident
was challenged by Ardelia Hall who wrote that: "it appears more than doubtful that he fouAd it in
a locker but rather got it from one of the German packers in the Collecting_Point.,,42
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Concern for the behavior of U.S. forces as custodians for art and cultural property and as
occupi~rs of ~~stria and Germ~y was widespre~d and seemingll: tl12f211gh as a. review ofithe
numerous polICIes for safeguardmg such p,ropertIes demonstrates. When analyzmg the, I
-----------~,~,-----
,
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1st Lt. Frank P. Albright, MF AA Specialist Officer to Director, OMG for Bavaria, "Looted Paintings,"
April 18, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Property Division Records, Box 228 [119490].
38 1st Lt. Frank'P. Albright, MFAA Specialist Officer to Director, OMG for Bavaria, "Looted Paintings,"
April 18, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Property Division Records, Box 228 [119490]. Listed as stolen by
American troops from Friedrich Homschuch on April 14, 1945 are the following works: Spitzweg:~
Gebirgslandschaft(auJHolz) (Mountain Landscape-on wood), Lowith: Vertraulichkeiten (Privaci~s),
I
Hans Best: Disputierende Bauern (?? Farmer), A. Her: Landschaft mit Marterl (Leinwand) (Landscape
with Marterl- cadvas), Wopfner: Fischer am Chiemsee (???), Ed. Schleich: Abendlandschaft (Pappe)
(Evening landscape-pasteboard), H. Biirkel: AuJdem Pass (Leinwand) (On the pass-canvas), Zumbusch:'
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, Fischerin (Pappe) (???-pasteboard), Jules Dupres: Holliiildische Wohnstube (Leinwand) (Dutch U1iVing
room-canvas), Hengeler: Landschaft mit Liebespaar (Holz) (Landscape with???-wood), Lowith: ,
, Kardiniile im Disp'ut (Holz) (Cardinals in dispute-wood), Defregger: Tiroler Dirndl (Leinwand) (?:??
canvas), Stuck: MiidchenkopJ(Holz) (Head oja girl-wood), Spitzweg: Isarlandschaft (Holz)(land~cape oj
???~wood), Schleich: Ackernde Bauern (Holz) (??? Farmer-wood), Defregger::MiidchenkopJ(Holz)
(Head oja girl-wood), Kohler: KopJ einer alten Frau (Holz) (Head ojan old woman-wood), Henieler:
Bauer, ganze Figur (Holz) (Farmer, whole figure-wood), Gillardi: Kunstkritiker (Holz) (Art critic~lwood)
[119489; similar version to 119493].
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39 Major L.B. LaFarge, ChiefMFAA Section to Reports Office, Restitution Branch, "Transmittal qfList
to Roberts Commission," May 29, 1945, NACP, RG 260, Property Divis\ion, Box 228 [119491]. I
40 Except in the instance of the Hesse ,Crown Jewels Case in which crD officers pursued the trail of the
looted jewels and precious stones from Kronberg Castle in Germany to several U.S. cities. The cake and
trial against the perpetrators, Kathleen Nash-Durant and James Durant, resulted in two separate guilty
. ,
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conVIctIons."",'
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41 Herbert Patricklohnsori to Commissioner of Customs, July 18, 1948, NACP, RG 59, Entry 3101A, Lot
62D-4, Box __ [119521-:119522]; G. J. Valenzuela to Commissioner of Customs, July 24, 1948, NACP,
,
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RG 59, Entry 30 14A, Lot 62D-4, Box
[119522]; _'_ to Commissioner of Customs, undated, NIACP,
RG 59, Entry 3014A, Lot 62D-4, Box '.
[11923].
'
42 Ardelia Hall to Edgar Breitenbach, Art Intelligence Officer, "JeweUed (sic) Figurine of Man and
Monkey," undated, NACP, RG 59, Box
[119524].
I
37
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,
thecoop~r~~io~
implementation of these policies and
of the military officers with such prolams
it ,tw.cOI+l0S HlQJ;e diffic.u]t..t~y.ze.W,.$,yJ1l~..tll~_eJfQJrts. Andre Kormendi wrote ofth~
problem ofprotection and recovery of German art property as he fac,ed it as MFAA, Officer for
Northern Bavaria in December 1948:
I
, \
)
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~~~:a~m~~;si~:~:~O::;~!!::;~n~~:~ :~~;c~~o~sc~:~~n:~a~~~~~t~~l;~~ the
,
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occupational authorities with the assistance of specialists in the field.
-J ~
additio~ lo~aCtions,
)
~ases
rl-'
"11 1(1?
,~
k
~~
b~
~~
initia~ed
.'
a number of investigations
by the
In
office for NQ!!h.Jla~afj'a: which were referred to authorities in the, ZI, never came
to a conclusion. There were other matters where information was so vague that
no action could be initiated. 43
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In no field is there greater necessity' of continued efforts of MF AIA specialists as
in this one. The protection of privately owned cultural property from
requisitioning, the return and recovery of misappropriated art material by US
, personnel; black market traffic in art treasures by US personnel an4 DP's and
iss~ed
Konnendi' s report mentions seve(lll of the
that remained. without resolution as he
his final report. Three cases of interest for this reQort were mentioned including: 1) a GreJk
vase stolen and ta,ken to the U.S. by an
office;' was returned to the European Theaterland
los~ between Brel?1erhaven and an unknown destination; 2) materials removed on loan front
Castle Gaibach, an arts repository, remained unrecovered despite investigation after the of~cers
whQsigned for them were redeployed; and 3) one third of the ma~rials requisitioned from; the
Staatsmobiliendepot Vienna stored in Wiirzburg was in the hands of "unknown persons or
installations," aft6r officers moved around. 44 In addi'tion, Kormendi commented on instances of
the looting ofpatacesand castles in Northern Bavaria. Of such instances, he wrote, "[a]s ih most
cases no information was available as to the identity ofthe looters, beyond gathering inforination
, no positive action could be initiated.,,45 Kormendi identified the following problems: supp~sed
looting by troops.of art materials deposited by private individuals at Castle Hoheneck; supposed
looting by troops1ofpaintings from the Germanisches National MuseuinandI at
other.art material
,
"
Castle Unternschreez; disappearance of coin collection an,d other art objects from Kaiserpfalz
Forcheim while.occupied by troops in 1945; removal of flags and other cultural material frbm
Castle Lauenstein; disappearance of furniture when military authorities returned it from stdrage
to Castle Aschbach, a DP occupied resdience; looting by military units of materials from t~e
Aschaffenburg museums, the leather museum of Offenbach, of Frankt'urt museums and th~
private collection, of the ~rince of Leiningen s,tored at the Palace and Abbey in Amorbach; land
Army
I
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l
Mr. Andre Konnendi, MFA!A Officer for Northern Bavaria, "Final Report on MFA!A Activitie~ in
Northern Bavaria,'! Apri11945 - December 1948, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 375
,
"
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[119554]. , ' , " , ,
44 Mr. Andre Konnendl, MFA!A Officer for Northern Bavana:, "Filla I Report on MFA! A ActIvltle~ III
Northern Bavaria,'; Apri11945 December 1948, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 375
[119554].'
I
45 Mr. Andre Konnendi, MFA! A Officer for Northern Bavaria, "Final Report on MFA! A Activities in
Northern Bavaria," April 1945 - December 1948, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 375
[119545]. ,
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43
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~: ~ JDI-'tI..{~'lOq3
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the alleged looting ofmaterilas of the Frankfurt museums and the property of Prince CastellRiidenhausen from Castle Riidenhausen. 46
The MFAA Section ofthe Adjutant General's headquarters in Berlin issued a
consolidated report on Art Looting by American Personnel in Germany on March 1, 1947., The
list, , concerned ~'artistic and historic property presumed, on the basis of available information,
to have been stolen or looted from Germany by United States personnel.,,47 In letter'
I
accompanying the report, the MFAA Officers were instructed to write officials of the State
Department. These officials, in tum, were to "forward copies of this list to art dealers, librkies,
museums, customs officials, and postal inspectors, as outlined in the memorandum drawn ap by
I
the State Department and circulated in the War and Navy Departments." The report identified
149 works of art and cultural property were listed as having been looted from locations acr'oss
Germany, 115 from Castle Hohenaschau alone. The list included details of the object inclJding
I
its creator, theme~ size, and'material. It also provided information about the legal owner, when
known, and any details about "approximate time of looting, unit or personnel involved. ,,48 1Facts
about the suspected American looters were sometimes vague and could range from "April 114,
1945, unknown American unit" to "Within 7 July - 30 December 45, American unit." The
I
majority of the it~ms were previously owned by the "Stadtische and Lenbach Galerie Munich (all
of the items looted from the Hohenschau Castle) but several others were noted as coming :ftom
"unknown owners.,,49
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4. Below are a list and synopsis of known cases c,onstructed from arChivall1
information
. ' I ,-.J t/'I
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,.A ,'po.,
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1. [Schloss Collection-one case
Problems at the Fiihrerbau: AriI
.
anonymous report on the arts at the
states that as the Americans were about to enter
Munich on April 29, 1945, 723 itemrr:emainoo in'the air raid shelters of the Fiihrerbau. This
number included,the 262 paintings from the Schloss Collection. It reports that "between the
middle of June 1945, when the Central CollectingPoint was established in the Fiihrerbau ~d the
Verwaltungsbau and an adequate military guard was posted, and 15 Nov 1945, 148 have been
found in the Central Collecting Point itself or recovered in Munich and its environs." It I
continues stating, "[a]s of the latter date 575 paintings were still missing, including all but i22 of
the paintings acquired by LINZ from the missing SCHLOSS collection.,,5o The allegations of
.
"
I
46 Mr. Andre Kormendi, MFAlA Officer for Northern'Bavaria, "Final Report on MFNA ActivitieJ in
Northern Bavaria," Apri11945 - December 1948, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 375
[119545].
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,47 Lt. Col. G.H. G~rde, AGD, Adjutant General, to Direction Civil Affairs Division, War Departm~nt,
Attn: MFAA Officer, "Art Looting by American Personnel," March 1, 1947, NACP, RG 260, OMGUS,
!
Box 129, see also RG 260, Economics Division, Box 115 [117101-117114].
48 Lt. Col. G.H. Garde, AGD, Adjutant General, to Direction Civil Affairs Division, War Departm~nt,
Attn: MFAA Officer, "Art Looting by American Personnel," March 1, 1947, NACP, RG 260, OMPUS,
Box 129, see also;RG 260, Economics Division, Box 115 [119450-119462].
"
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49 Lt. Co1. G.H. Garde, AGD, Adjutant General, to Director Civil Affairs Division, War Department,
,
I
Attn: MFAA Officer, "Art Looting by American Personnel," March 1, 1947, NACP, RG 260, OM9US,
Box 129, see also RG 260, Economics Division, Box 115 [119450-119462]., See Appendix A.
i
so Unsigned, undated notes, "Fiihrerbau Looting," NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection;File:. Hitler
,
I
Linz Museum V -' Retrieved Hitler paintings, Box 427 [120121].
•
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�'. theft and misdeeds at the Flihrerbau must be examined critically in ,;.ny history of the
I
responsibility of U.S. authorities for victims' assets. In reference to the Schloss Collection~ the
objects had origiI).ally been looted from France. The twenty-two paintings not looted from,llthe
Fiihrerbau were returned to France in the 3rd .transport from Munich on January 30, 1946. 51 J
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2. Emrich - 2 paintings:
I
U.S. Attorney R.S. Wilson wrote the Attorney General from Fort Smith, Kansas in September
1950. Wilson relayed the circumstances in which Robert Emrich was returning 2 painting~
removed from E~rope during his service there: Emrich surrendered the paintings during a risit
from Wilson after he learned that the paintings were of Polish origin and had been looted oy "the
notorious Nazi, Governor-General Frank." Emrich had been contacted by the State Departbent
.
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in September 1949, but waited until he was about to return to active service to return the I
paintings. Wilsofl asked if Emrich could "name or describe any of the other paintings that :were
contained in the qld palace where he was billeted and where he obtained possession of the two
paintings in question, or if he knew what disposition was made 0 f any of the other paintings, and
he stated that he could not give me any information along that line as he did not rememberiwhat
the other paIhtings were or what became ofthem.,,52
. :
. 3. Rhese Collection: TheCollection Rhese, 90ntaining' ;'objects ,and badges ofthe I
freemasonic and jewish cult," was confiscated in August 1945 by Mr. Sturman from the Dpc.
Center, Freising ... the remainder ofthe Collection not plundered was stored in the cellar of, the
Munich Buergerbraeukeller and in the cellar of the Munich Residence.,,53 A November 1~46
letter from Bavarian authorities to MFAA Officers details that t~eir investigation revealed Ithat "a
large part ofthe collection Rehse (sic) which had been left in the r~sidence, were robbed months
ago (in Mayor June). The remainder left behind (coin collection,collection of paper mon¢y,
collection of first World War food cards and many newspaper cuttings) were fetched by ;
American cars on Sept 21. 54 Notes on a letter go further in describing the treatment of the Rhese
Collection saying it was "looted by U.S. troops and D.P.s shortly after occupation in 1945.1
Nothing at. all left. What was removed a fe~ wee~s ago ~ere merely the metal stands in w,lhiCh
the collectIOn had been places. No need to lllvestlgate this matter any further.,,55
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" Receipt "FrenchPropertyfrom CCP, MWlich," January 30, 1946, 3,dTransport, NACP, RG 260] ·
Ardelia Hall Collection, File: Hitler Linz Museum V - Retrieved Hitler paintings, Box 427 [12012'2
120123l A handwritten note on the receipt details "As of 15 Nov 45 these 22 paintings were the only
ones of the 262 paintings from the Schloss Collection still in situ??? un-recovered."
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52 RS. Wilson, U~ited States Attorney to The Attorney General, attn: James M. McInerney, "YollIj
,
reference JMM:JDS:rnh 54-655; Two small paintings - Looted by Nazis - now allegedly in possession of
Robert Emrich, former Army Captain, 111 West Elms Street, Rogers, Arkansas," September 15, 1950,
NACP, RG59, En'try 3104A; Box_'_ [119468-119469]. .
"
,
:
53 Letter to Herber): S. Leonard from unidentified author (Ardelia Half) , "C;ollection Rhese," March 11,
"
1948, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 278 [106063].
54 Max SaY,ler, Der Bayerisches Staatsminister fUr Unterricht und Kultus to Office of Military
Government for Bavaria, "Books Buried in the Rubble of the Residenz," November 14, 1946, NACP, RG
. 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 278 (106064]. ,
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55 Unidentified handwritten note on Inter-Office Memorandum, From c.m. to Edwin C. Rae, "Reh~e
Collection," October 16,1946, NACP, RG2~0, Ardelia,Hall CollJcti~n, Box 278 [106066].
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�4. Castle Schwarzenbruck: One case handled by the Provost Marshall was the
disappearance of art objects from the Castle Schwarzenbruck. 56 Lieutenant Colonel F. W. .
Marshall informed the Provost Marshal of the U.S. Head~uarters in Berlin of the allegatiorls of
theft by me~bers~ofthe U.S. Army on January 14, 1946~ 7 The allegations were rai~ed in two
letters from the head of the Weimar State Art Collections in 1945. On October 3, 1945, Dr:.
Scheidig wrote the following details:
,
The detachment in Schwarzburg which performed guard duty there during the two
months of the American occupation consisted of only about 60 men, so that a
search for the offenders should not be difficult. It must be assumed that more
than one person was involved, since the soldiers had'been talking for weeks about
the art works in the rooms and had .used every opportunity to enter them.
Undoubtedly the thefts were actually carried out only in the last hours before
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departure ofthe American troops on 1 July 1945. 58 Scheidig provided further evidence for these allegations stating that,
the troops of the 15th US Infantry Division under the command of Capt. Paul
Estes, stationed in Scwarzburg in June 1945, were charged-to guard the repository
of paintings belonging to the State Collection of Art in the castle of Schwarzburg~
The keys were kept by Capt. Estes. There were posts before the repositories and
the rooms were marked by "offlimits" signs.
.
Immediately after the departure of the American troops on July 1st 1945 it was
observed~hat the doors of the repositories had been broken open and that pilfering
had occurred. The traces of rubber-soles with American inscriptions and the
1
many scattered ~igarette-buts proved beyond a doubt that the invaders were
American sol?ie.rs,. It5~as verified in the presence ofwitnesses,'thatcertain works
of art were mIssmg .. ' .
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In the list providing detail for thirteen of the lost paintings, one stands out as probably corrting
from a victim. Paul Baum's Landscape in Marchtime near Weimar is described as having:been
acquired in 1935:from a private collector. 6o ,
.
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56 Edwin Rae to OMGUS, MFAA Section, Restitution Branch, Economics Division, "Art PropertY in'
Castle Schwarzenbruck," September 14, 1946, NACP, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 278 [106067].1
57 Lietuenant Colonel F.W. Marshall, Adjutant General to U.S. Headquarters, Berlin District, "Trahsmittal
of Correspondence pertaining to Theft of Paintings from Castle Schwarzburg," January 14, 1946, NACP,
RG 260, Economics Division, Box 46 [106045].
;
58 Dr. Scheidig, Director of the State Collections of Art, Weimar to Dr. Zimmerman, October 3, 19,45,
NACP, RG 260, Economics Division, Box 46 [106047]..
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59 Dr. Scheidig, Director of the State Collections ofArt, Weimar to Dr. Zimmerman, "Lootings from the
Property of the State Collections of Art in Weimar," October 12, 1945, inclosure to letter from Lt. :Col.
Marshall of January 14, 1946 [106046].
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60 List of the paintings looted from the repository in Schwarzburg, inclosure to letter from Lt CoLI
Marshall of January 14, 1946 [106049-106051]: The painting is described "Meadows with a brook,
willow-trees and many crows. In the b~ckground the church-tower of Ehringsdorf near Weimar.".iThe
painting measured 22cm by 33 em, was oilon wood and was out of a frame in the repository. The;
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In late July 1946 Major L.B. LaFarge requested a progress report on the return of objects
to the Castle as w~ll as on the objects presumed to be missing. 61 On September 14 1946, Edwin
Rae sent a list of the objects missing from the castle along with a list of property already returned
..... . .
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to the castie by th:at date.62
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5. Salzburg Coin Collection:
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The Salzburg Coin Collection disappeared in 1945 from Salzburg. Capt. Mackenzib of
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the MG Detachment in Hallein believed that the valuables which had been stored in the Hallein
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saltmine were not under his jurisdiction as of July 22, 1948. However, Captain Sattgast, an
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MFAA Officer of the Area Command, informed him that the Coin Collection which should have
been kept with th~ property taken from the mine was missing. Mackenzie was.asked to ma)ce an
investigation, but.by that time the original American personnel of the detachment had been!
.
redeployed and indigenous employees of the ~etachment professed to.have noknowledge dfthe
collection. 63 The investigation continued nonetheless based on local authorities who recaUbd
that the collection had been carried from the mine to Berchtesgaden in June 1945 and the I
recovery of part of the collection when it was found in a box in a ?Salzburg? Storeroom. 64 IIn an
additional interview about the collection, Tucker spoke with Captain B.M LeVein who inf<}rmed
her that American officers took coins from the collection as souvenirs because a British Major
told them that they could do with the collection as they pleas~d. 65
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5. Hohenashau near Bad Aibling that involved works from the Lenbachhaus
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The looting from ,Schloss Hohenashau is documented in the MFAA's March 1947 consolidated
report on Art Lo~ting by American Personnel in Germany. The report idenrified 115 of 14;9
. works of art and cultural property as having been looted from the Castle Hohenaschau alone.
The list included details of the object including its creator, theme, size, and material. It alsb
provided information about the legal owner, when known, and any details about "approxirriate
time oflooting, unit or personnel involved.,,66 For the looting from Hohenashau were liste~ as
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painting was signe~ by the artist and dated 1885. It is included in a book by C. Hitzeroth, Paul Brown,
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Dresden 1937, Plate 7.
61 Major L.B. LaFarge, ChiefMFA&A Section to RestitUtion Branch, Economics Division, OMG I
Bavaria, "Art Property in Castle Schwarzenbruck," July 23, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall 1
Collection, Box 278 [106068]; also found in RG 260, Economics Division, Box 46 [106044].
I
62 Edwin Rae to OMGUS, MFAA Section, Restitution Branch, Economics Division, "Art Propertyiin
Castle Schwarzenbruck," September 14, 1946, NACP, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 278 [106067].:
63 Evelyn Tucker, MF AA Representative, RD&R Division, USACA, Memo on Interview with HoWard
Mackenzie re: "Salzburg Coin Collection," July 22, 1948, NACP, RG 260, USACA Reparations artd
RestitutionBranch~ENTRY#needed!,Bbx 160 [1~1?~1-101732l, .
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64 Evelyn.Tucker, MFAA R~presentatl.ve, RD&R DlVlslOn, USACA, Memo on IntervIew wl~h Hovyard
MackenZIe re: "Salzburg Com CollectIon," July 22, 1948, NACP, RG 260, USACA ReparatIons aq.d
Restitution Branch, ENTRY # needed!, Box .160 [101731-101732].
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65 Evelyn Tucker, MFAA Representative, RD&R Division, USACA, Memo on Interview with CaWain
B.M. LeVein re: "Salzburg Coin Collection," July 22, 1948, NACP, RG 260, USACA Reparationsland
Restitution Branch, ENTRY # needed!, Box 160 [101733-101734].
I
66 Lt. Col. G.H. Garde, AGD, Adjutant General, to Direction Civil Affairs Division, War Departm~nt,
Attn: MFAA Officer, "Art Looting by American Personnel," March 1, 1947, NACP, RG 260, OMGUS,
Box 129, see also RG 260, Economics Di~ision, Box 115 [119450-119462].:
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belonging to the Stadtische and Lenbach Galerie Munich and beiri~ removed at the hands 6f an
American unit sometime between July 7 and December 30, 1945. 6 ,
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6. Biidingen see HIP p. 166-168'
7. Bad Wilduhgenand Stadel Museum property see HIP p.169-172
8. Looting of St. Florians in Austria see HIP p. 174-175
8.. Conclusion for section
I
.. i. Culture of souvenir taking (Ambrose; NYTarticle; Bischofs qJote in
Gold Train article)
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Many authors have written evaluations of the conduct of U.S. authorities in wartim~ and
postwar Europe. Of these, some have come to the conclusion that U.S. forces behaved we~l
only in relation to the behaviors of German and Soviet forces. Others have arrived at the .1
conclusion that the U.S. forces not only behaved well in the context but performed an admirable,
noteworthy--even exemplary job in Europe. Some room must be found between these twb .
,evaluations to allow. for the evaluation of the U.S. forces that recognizes the difficulty of the task
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,and the admirable job by U.S. institutions while allowing for a close study of the instances; where
individuals acted irresponsibly. Rorimer described the importance of this approach when he
criticized the pra9tice of placing U.S. actions in too much context: "
I
In the re-establishment of order and the re-education of the German people we
I
must take, cognizance of our 9wnweaknesses. We cannot justify our own
misdemeanors. The American soldier returning from Europe may well blame his
actions in foreign lands on war, time conditions, and forgive himself and his
compatriots because of the strain under which he endured hardships and
unforgivable atrocities of the enemy.,,68
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Instead o~ placi:flg all blame for cases of I?isdeed on the ~ontext of ~ar 'and o~cupied E~rppe \
alone, Ronmer urged that the cases be revIewed and conSIdered as "cause for mtrospectlon" and
demonstrative of "the need for future enlightenment.!,69
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ii. 'Evaluation - how bad was theft/souvenir taking by GIs?
Collecting Points
II.
J\ ~
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Security 6fthe assets .was one Of. t~e primary concerns. of the central ,collecting poihts and
other art depots run by Amencan authontles l)g2'.;e..(2A ('~1f- M-c)~·f ~
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Lt. Col. G.H. Garde, AGO, Adjutant General, to Director Civil Affairs Division, War Department,
,
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Attn: MFAA Officer, "Art Looting by American Personnel," March 1, 1947, NACP, RG 260, OMGUS,
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"Box 129, see also RG 260, Economics Division, Box 115 [119450-119462]. " , .
68 James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Ed~cation," p.2, Archives of American Art, James R9rimer
Papers [bates number to be added].
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69 James Rorimer, Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p.2, Archives of American Art, James Rorimer
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Papers [bates nurnber to be added]. '
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1. Munich Central Collecting,Point
At the Munich Central Collecting Point (MCCP) security concerns were of utmost
importance as it was the main storage facility for art looted by the Nazis from occupied"
' countries, including a considerable amount of victims' property. The MCCP, a "large complex
of buildings is a storehouse of art treasures, jewelry, manuscripts, and the like which were looted'
from the allied nations," was estimated to hold property valued at over "tw'o hundred milli6n
dollars.,,7o, Sectu1ty precautions wereelaboratel!s demonstrated by a pr~liminary security:plan~
by Craig Hugh Smythe, Officerin Charge of the MCCP in the earliest days of its operatioi[l f
Nine guard posts staffed by eight military guards, three German policemen, and three Gerrhan
civilians were to be established around the exterior of the facility. For interior security a sYstem'
of passes and identification tags was implemented to assure that certain areas of the CCP Had
minimal, ifany, traffic. Guards were to prevent any unauthorized removals of works stored in
the CCp?1
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Though tl1e plans were specific, they were not foolproof and thefts did occur. A~ early as
August 1945, the' CCP was robbed and four paintings stolen. Although an investigation I
indicated thatthe, theft was most likely committed by laborers working on building repairs; the
theft still represented a breech in a predominately American supplied security guard force.i
Ci, Investigation revealed that the theft occurred before the installation oflocks on the storeropm
\ doors, with patrolling soldiers as the only deterrent. Officials commented that "in spite of a1l
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security measure~ now in force, it is felt that a continuity in the command of the guard, an~, in so
far as possible, in its personnel is desirable to eliminate the possibility of similar mistakes in the
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future and to ensure a consistently high standard of security.,,72
A consistent and reliable security force was not easy to bUiid or maintain as then~ I ~ (er
deployments from Europe to the Pacific theater or to the U.S. rapidly depleted the size oqhe
'U.S. forces. By February 1946, the scarcity of guards was a dire problem at the Munich acp
because of the massive amount of treasure stored t;here. Though originally twenty-five gukd
posts were propdsed for the complex, only six remained in 1946. Edwin C. Rae, Chief of the
MFAA Section In Munich, argued "that to reduce the military guard further is to make thi~
military installat~on dangerouslY,insecure." He noted that'civilian guards were already be~ng
employed in "more places than is considered desirable.,,73 In place of this system, which ~e
obviously thought inadequate, Rae proposed employing "German civil policemen or otherj first
rateguards.,,74 He stressed the importance ofU.,S. provided security saying: '
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Edwin C. Rae, Chief MF AA Section to OMGUS, Econ Division, Restitution Branch, MF AA S~ction,
"Military Guards ~t Repositories and Collecting Points for Works of Art in Bavaria," February 6, ~ 946, ,
~ACP, R~ 260, i}rdelia Hall Coll,ection, Box 268 [117741-11 :742].,'
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I Lt. CraIg Hugh Smyth, Officer-m-Charge of Central CollectingPomt Mumch to The MIhtary Guard,
Civilian Guard ana all Personnel at the Central Collecting Point Munich, Subject: "Security," und~ted,
NACP, RG 260, ArdeliaHall Collection, Box 268 [117735-117738].
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72 Headquarters 3 US Army, G-5 Section, Office Memorandum Slip, "Permanent Guard for the ¢entral
Collecting'Point Munich," September 13, 1945, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268
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[117739-117740J;,
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73 Edwin C. Rae, ChiefMFAA Section to OMGUS, Econ Division, RestitUtion Branch, MFAA Section,
"Military Guards ~t Repositories and Collecting Points for Works of Art in Bavaria," February 6, ;1946,
NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268 [117741-117742].
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74 Edwin C. Rae t6 Lt. Col, Blocker: '''U se of Civilian Guards at the Munich Collecting Point, MFA&A,"
February 25, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268 [117721].
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�Mil~tary
Government has already been criticized as incompetent to administer
adequately collections of cultural objects. Should silverware, jewelry, or pictures
belonging to the Allies be stolen from the Collecting Point and should
investigation reveal that a miscellaneous group pf civilians had been entrusted
with the job of exterior guard for the installation it is believed that Military
Government would be open to serious charges. 75
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Problems persisted in March 1946 when guards allowed two men in US Army uniforms
to enter the CCP ,without proper authorization76 and in June 1946 when an inspection expo~ed
77
the absence of guards at some posts. Complaints about the 34th Battalion tasked with COP
security continued when someone stole property of the guards from the room next to the gkrd
post. This theft was determined to have been the act of one of the 34th ,s own. 78 Even wot.se was
the report that on: June 20th the sergeant of the gUard and the soldier on duty at the main entrance
were asleep on the job. In frustration, Rae noted the danger of such a lapse as the guards ~ere
"explicitly ordered to record the entrance and departure of all persons from the building and to
check all passes.',79 The guards were further described as "slipshod" and accused of being! lazy,
leaving gates open and unattended and bringing unauthorized visitors including women ana even
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dogs into the CCP. 80
The danger, of course, was that loot or other holdings in the CCP couldbe stolen. ;rhis is
illustrated by a case in early September 1946 when it was reported that a painting was taken from
the MCCP's office. Director of the CCP, Frederick Pleasants, wrote to Edgar Breitenbacht an art
investigator at the CCP, about the theft and informed him that new emergency procedures at the
CCP prohibited the entrance or departure of any new persons and mandated the examinati~m of
any packages ex~ting the CCP complex. One additional problem. stolen painting had
was that the ' I
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been hanging iri the investigator's office and, for this reason, had never been entered in the' ..
CCP's files. As $uch, Pleasant noted that the CCP would "feel no responsibility for its los~." In
the future, however, it was advised that "every item that comes over the Collecting Point I
threshold should be entered in the usual way in the Collecting Point files," and that "there ;is a
strict rule that nd works of art are to be kept in offices.',81
"
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Further evidence of security problems was the disappearance of a valuable painting,
silver, and rugs. 'Frederick Pleasants wrote to the Criminal Investigations Department of the
Munich Police a~out the thefts and asked for the assistance of an investigator. His plea stressed
the importance of improved security "since the material inthis building belongs to forei~
i
7S Edwin C. Rae t~ Lt. Col. Blocker, "Use of Civilian Guards at the Munich Collecting Point, MF+&A,"
February 25, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268 [117721].
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76 William J. Coffey, Captain AGD, OMGB to Commanding Officer, 290 AAA, "Failure of guards to
r
Comply with Instructions," March 30, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268 [1117743].
77 Edwin C. Rae, ChiefMFAA Section to Chief Economics Division, "Failure to Provide Necessary
Guard," June 12, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268 [117744].
i
78 CHECK DOCUMENT FOR PROPER CITE
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79 Edwin C. Rae, ChiefMFAA Section to Chief Economics Division, "Failure to Provide Necessary
!
Guard," June 12, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268 [117744].
80 Edwin C. Rae, ChiefMFAA Section, Resittution Branch to Major Goodwin, "Military Guard at the
OMGB Collecting Point for Cultural Objects, Munich," June 27, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall
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Collection, Box 268 [117745-117746].
. I"
81 Frederick R. Pleasants, Director Central Collecting Point Munich to Mr. Edgar Breitenbach, "Missing
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Picture," September 7, 1946~ NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 2'68 [117747].
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countries, the los~es can lead to very serious consequences.,,82 The investigation by u.s. apd
Gennan officials led to the eventual discovery of a series of multiple thefts by Albert Krinner, a
Gennan employeq as a guard at the CCP. 83 Though the crn and the Criminal Police begatt their
investigation with these September thefts, it took years to discover the extent ofthe security
breech and the resultant losses. The investigation itself was a point of concern for one Pub:lic
Safety Officers who wrote that his office questioned "the'advisability of broadcasting the lbss,
since it is believed such procedures would create an even greater thr~at to the Collecting I
Point.,,84
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Poor security conditions endangered the assets under U.S. care as well as to the
!
reputation ofthe American Anny.' A January 5, 1947 letter by Edwin Rae, Chief of the MF AA
in Munich, discussed the "Insufficiencies of American Guards." The letter chronicled poot
perfonnance of the security forces including sleeping on the job and lack of effective secunty
including guard booths with'no lights. 85 Other harm to the CCP resulted from vandalism aPd
wanton destruction at the hands of the guards. One such instance occurred in April 1947 at Post
VII as a result o{a' guard "apparently in pique.,,86 Further security lapses including the faiiure of '
guards to examine the contents of vehicles, to check passes or packages, and the fact that spme
of the Gennan gllards did not know English. 87
.
To strengthen security the U.S. authorities attempted to work with Bavarian authorities.
Brigadier General Walter Muller wrote to the Minister President of Bavaria with the promise to
.
supplement the Munich police with a civilian guard if the security job was too much for th~
guards to handle}8 Not all U.S. personnel were so helpfuL, An "inddent" on June 17 where
German guards were unable to prevent the entry of American soldiers into the CCP was n6ted as
yet another security problem. Rae commented that the incident "seems to illustrate the cOI?plete
helplessness of the Gennan personnel guarding this installation should American soldiers desire
to enter.,,89 Efforts to support the Gennan personnel in their efforts to prevent unauthoriz~d
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Frederick R. Pleasants, Director CCP Munich to Kriminal Direktor Grasmiiller, Kriminal
Untersuchungs Abteilung, September 19, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268
1
[117748].,
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83 FrederickR. Ple:asants, Director CCP Munich to Lt. William Moran, OMGB, Liaison and Security,
"Search of dwellings for two pictures," September 27, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection,
.
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Box 268 [117749]. . '
84 OMG Bavaria Office Memo Slip, James B.Goodwin, Chief Restitution Branch to Maj. O'Donnel,
Public Safety, December 2, 1946, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268, [117750].
85 Edwin C. Rae, 8hiefMFAA to Major Goodwin, Chief Restitution Branch, "Insufficiencies of I
American Guards at the Munich Collecting Point," January 5, 1947, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall
Collection, Box 268 [117753].
,
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86 M.G. Karsner, Asst. Adj. Gen. to Commanding Officer, Company F, Second Battalion,' 26 Infantry
,
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Regiment, "Irregularities in Military Guard at,the Munich Cen~al Collection," April 18, 1947, NACP,
RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268 [117754].
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87 Edwin C. Rae, ChiefMFAA to Major Goodwin, "Insufficiency of Police Guard at the Munich !
Collecting Point,"June 5, 1947, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268 [1 i 7755].
88 Brigadier General Walter J. Muller to The Minister President of Bavaria, "Insufficiency ofPoli~e .
Guard at the Munich Central Collecting Point," June 7~ 1947, NACP, Rei 260, Ardelia Hall Collection,
Box 268 [117756].
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89 Edwin C. Rae,ChiefMFAA Section, Restitution Branch to Chief of the Economics Division, "Failure
of American Pers6nnel to comply with Security Regulations," June 30, 1947, NACP, RG 260"Ar4elia
Hall Collection, Box 268 [117758].
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�entry of U.S. personnel into the CCP, and especially into the collecting point galleries, included
a circular to the police 'containing contactinfonnation for American CCp'authorities in th~ event
that unauthorized;U.S. officials insisted on entrance. 90
,
By April 23, 1948 MFAA officers recognized that despite the cOl1cems, efforts, and
complaints of American officials regarding the CCP's security, the security situation remaihed
poor. Herbert Leonard, Chief of the Collecting Point, lamented:
I
It has long been a known fact that various works of art have been stolen from the'
CCP, probably since the very beginning ... Absolute control has been difficult to
maintain as there is no inventory of the complete holdings presently within the
CCp. 91 ;
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Leonard described the card files on objeCts in Munich and the. shortcomings of that system ifor
maintaining an in,vento,IY. He cited that "in many cases one number is given to a box or cr~te
contaimng sevenii unrelated objects." It was not until-March 1948 that all of the crates· I
containing restitutable items were opened and numbered. This practice made the unnoticed
removal of items possible because unless an independent inventory or loading list had beed
compiled no one would know what the U.S. had in its control. According to Leonard, the
. decision to restitute meant that security no 16nger kept the place "locked up tight," but thatithe
materials would have to be "handled, unpacked, photographed, Inventoried, described and !
moved." 92 Restitution mandated that the collecting point space be cleaned 'and repaired, t~e
installation be secured. Curators and foreign.representatives would assist in the search fori
artworks. To meet the demands of restitution and the daily turnover and movement of objects in.
the CCP, Leonard devised the following plan:
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...rack lists by Munich numbers have been attached to each rack and the guards i
report the movement of each work of art which is then recorded on the arrival .
card or the property cru:d if such has been made. The undersigned has added two'
curators to the staff. One of the .new curators does nothing but make property
cards of the so-called unidentified material which is photographed at the same
time. Th~ other curator is working witl) the Hitler collection and is concentrating
it. Paintings of small fonnat are kept in safes insofar as if possible. Empty
frames are being segregated so that the appearance of an ,empty frame will clearly·
indicate t1;lat the painting has been removed. 93
Krinner's theftsare important to note for two reasons. First, the stolen items included art~orks
-;;ro6jecfs of cultural property that had been looted from victims' by the Nazis. The theft:I of
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Edwin C .. Rae, ChiefMF,AA Section to Police Sergeant, "Information for the Police," June 30, 1!947,
NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 268 [117760].
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91 Herbert S. Leonard, ChiefMFAA Section to OMGUS, attn: Mr. Ril';:hard F. Howard, "Theft of
Paintings from the,Central Collecting Point," April 23, 1948, NACP RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collectton,
Box 268 [117731-P7731A].
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92 Herbert S. Leonard, ChiefMFAA Section,to OMGUS, attn: Mr. Richard F. Howard, "Theft of
Paintings from the Central Collecting Point," April 23, 1948, NACPRG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection,
Box 268 [117731- i 17731A].
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93 Herbert S. Leonard, ChiefMFAA Section to OMGUS, attn: Mr. Richard F. Howard, "Theft of
Paintings from the Central Collecting Point," Apri123, 1948, NACP RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection,
Box 268 [117731-117731A]. .
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. this property and the fact that even at his subsequent trial some items were still missing, is !
indicative that despite best efforts,
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i. Theft from Munich: The Albert Krinner Case
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The security measures above were designed to prevent the theft of objects, especially
objects that once belonged to victims and were housed in the CCP under American control.:
While it improved the situation for keeping tracks of works, it failed to prevent the most I
damaging theft from the CCP. Of this theft, Leonard wrote:
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It is too early to 'write definitively about the series of thefts made by two of the
guards in company with one of the packers and a man formerly employed here as
a packer. They concentrated on small paintings which could be tucked in a coat
pocket. The guards apparently received very' little money for the paintings which
went, after passing through another hand, to a young law student who seems to be
the first to recognize their value and to sell them for rather large sums on the
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black market.
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The thief, Albert krinner, was employed at the Munich Central Collecting Point as a guard! and
eventually admitted to stealing objects from the CCP as early as December 1947. Throughput
his activities at Munich, he was responsible for the theft of a many items: paintings, china, !
porcelain figures"an~ silver; Overall, 96 stolen works are attributed to Krinner, including ~any
that can be identified as coming from victims ..Krinner stole a Liebl painting looted and held by
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Andreas Hofer, j~wels from the collection ofthe Austrian Rothschilds, and many paintingsi that
had been looted from victims for Hitler',s planned Linz musuem. 9,5 'Krinner was able to steal
most of the items'while they were waiting to be photographed for identification and restitution
purposes, and he admitted to having a hiding place set aside in one' of the Munich CCP roobs. 96
American investigators gained new insight into the case through interviews with Krinnbr's
relatives. From an interview with the Krinner couple, Breitenbach got Krinner to confess tb the
theft of: "two 16th century jewels belonging to the Austrian Rothschilds," and items from the
property of Christian Weber including a silver platter, china-ware (which he sold to an Am~rican
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94 Herbert S. Leonard, ChiefMFAA Section to OMGUS, attn: Mr. Richard F. Howard, "Theft of I
Paintings from the Central Collecting Point," April ~3, 1948, NACP RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collectipn,
Box 268 [117731-11773 I A].
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95 Undated, List of works stolen by Krinner divided into: "I. Stolen at Central Collecting Point and I
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Recovered. Chain can be traced to I¥inner and Zellner;" "II. Stolen at Central Collecting Point, I,'
Recovered. Chain incomplete, likely to be stolen by Krinner/Zellner;" "III. Stolen at Central Colle~ting
Point Not Recovered. But chain can be traced to ZellnerlKrinner;" "IV. Burnt by Krinner or Zellner
according to their qwn ~dmission;" and "V. Stolen at Central. Collecting Point from Rooms from w~ich
Krinner stole otherpaintiJ?,gs, no trace," NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Records of the Property
Division, Box 485 [117601-117605].
96 Edgar Breitenbach, MFAA Officer to Mr. H.S. Leonard, Chief MFAA Section, "Recovery of tw9
Rothschild jewels and a painting from the Hitler Collection," September 1, 1948, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia
,
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Hall Collection, Records of the Property Division, Box 485 [117617-117618]. The packers had a secret
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hiding place in Munich in Room U 10 "between two columns" which they used to hide the items before
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they could be removed from the building. .
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captain) and four.figurines. 97 The looted jewels were returned to the CCP, but many ofthe other
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items were not. 98
Other suspects in thefts from the CCPMunich emerged in connection to the Krinner
investigation. Joseph Elsenbeer was alleged to have taken a small gobelin representing a Girl
and a Boy in a small brown velvet frame on his own and Jordan had problems about how many
paintings he recei'ved from Krinner. Jordan was e~entually to be dealt with in his own rig~t as
the authorities knew he had received Defregger's Sleeping Boy from Krinner and had admi:tted to
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stealing "a piece ofjewelry (or gold) right under the nose of Dr. Hanfstaengl." 99'
Breitenbach received many stolen objects from Frau Krinner, usually over time and as a
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result of persistent prodding. This occurred throughout September, on the 10 when Frau:
th
Krinner returned 4 paintings and 2 fans, and on the 15 when she returned another painting,
some jewels, and a miniature. 100 At the September 15 th meeting, Frau Kjinner dropped by I
Breitenbach's office to return a Pinakothek painting and a fan that 'she had forgotten to turA over
previously. Breitenbach explained the behavior saying it seemed "understandable in view :ofthe
great number of qbjects which had passed through her hands."lol In the same meeting she itumed
over a miniature, ;which her husband stole, and two small oval shaped green semi-precious/stones
which Krinner received from Zellner as payment for entrance to the room U 10 while one of the
safes was open. 10 2 .
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The searcpfor the items Krinner stoie was not limited to Europe alone. Indeed, in
November 1948, Breitenbach wrote Dr. Ivan F. Benwett, formerly with the US forces,
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[&~mrtrt1ll.Ui~.~iS«iooii.IDlilI1WlBll~1~\t<a~~FtHl.at Harrisburg St~te
Hospital in Pennsylvania requesting the return of anything Benwett purchased from Krinner that
the Krinner investigation revealed the sale of many works to Benwett and that:
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Edgar Breitenb~ch, MFAA Officer tQ ML H.S. LeQnard, ChiefMFAA Section, "Recovery oftw~
Rothschildjewels'and a painting frQm the Hitler CQllectiQn," September 1, 1948, NACP, RG 260, !Ardelia
Hall Collection, Records .of the Property Division, Box 485 [117617-117618].
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98 Edgar Breitenbach, MFAA Officer to Mr. H.s. Leonard, ChiefMFAA SectiQn, "Recovery oftwb
, Rothschild jewels and a painting frQm the Hitler CollectiQn," September 1, 1948, NACP, RG 260, IArdelia
Hall Collection, RecQrds of the Property Di":ision, Box 485 [1 i 7617-117618]. The returned paintihg was
a John Matthew R~mftl, "Woman and Child Crossing a Creek," with Hitler cQllecting number 435);
99 Edgar Breitenbach, MFAA Officer tQ Mr. H.S. Leonard, ChiefMFAA Section, "RecQvery of twb
Rothschild jewels and a painting frQm the Hitler Collection," September ,1, 1948, NACP, RG 260, IArdelia
Hall CQllection, Records of the Property Division, Box 485 [117617-117618]. Dr. Hanfstanelgl w,as a
German arts official in the employ .of the Munich CCP'.
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100 Unsigned to H.S. L~on~rd, "More ~ecQvered works of art stolen ~o~ CCP," September 15, 193;8,
NACP, RG 260, Ardeha Hall Collection, Records of the PrQperty DlvlSlon, BQX 485 [117621]. Tlie
paintings returned between the 10 th and 15 th of September includ~d: Guardi (?), Rialto Bridge, Mu~: Nr.
42 628; Willroider, Landscape with Peasant plowing, owner: Stadt. Gallerie Munchen, inv. No. 4992;
E.H. v.d. Neer, Landscape with Tobias and the Angel, .owner: Bayr. Staatsgemaldes Sammlungen,1
Schlessheim Gallerie, inv.No. 2862/3192; D. Gysels, Dutch village Street ona River bank, owner:! Bayr.
Staatsgemaldesammlungen, Schleissheim Gallerie, inv.NQ. 2761; Otto Fedder, Bavarian Mailcoach in a
;
mountain landscape; Jewish property, Davidsohn, Mun. NQ. 36171.
101 Unsigned to H.S. LeQnard, "More recQvered wQrks .of art stolen frQm CCP," September 15, 1938,
NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall CollectiQn, Records of the Property Division, Box 485 [117621]. I
, 102 Unsigned tQ H.S. Leonard, "MQre recovered wQrks .of art stolen frQm CCP," September 15, 19~8,
NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall CQllectiQn, Records .of the Property Division, Box 485 [117621]. i
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Krinner states that he made you believe that he was selling the objects on behalf
of a family in distress. At the same time he insists that you knew where he was
employed, afact which might have aroused your suspicion. It is our eamest
desire to settle the affair privately. We must insist, however, that y,?u return to us
103
immediately aU the objects you acquired from Krinner.
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Dr. Benw~tt replied with a slightly different version of events, yet an offer to cooperate in
the return of works known to have been stolen from the CCP Munich. 'Benwett believed that
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Krinner had sold.him goods that had belonged to members of his own family, but offered tpat:
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We naturally are interested in returning to you all objects Krinner did not receive !
honestly. 'As you can appreciate, however, it is difficult differentiating these from I
the property belonging to his own family or loaned him by friends for sale ...If
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you could send a list of items stolen by him, it would be a simple matter for. us to I·
identify them and thus speed their,return to their office. 104 '
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Josefa Krinner, wife of Albert Krinner, h~wever, stated categorically that all of the objectsl sold
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to Benwett had been stolen from the CCp.
Stefan P. Munsing, Chief of the MFAA Section, replied to Bennett in mid-Decemb.er and
demanded the return of the, items saying,
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We have no representatives in the United States and would therefore have to
appeal to the Department of Justice for assistance. In as much as the objects were I
acquired by you in a quite unauthoriied manner, such steps would hardly be in
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your interest. Thus in order to save your embarrassment we request that you
return at once to us all objects, including the broken ones. The cost for packing
and shipping has obviously to be borne by you. The insUrance value should be set
at $1,000 (one thousand). 106
Bennett complied and sent the goods in two boxes by the Reading Company on January 1.
3, 1949, though they had not reached Munsing by'April 28, 1949. 107
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ii. Mimara
4:::~,
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2. Wiesbaden Central Collecting Point
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Breitenb~ch,
103 Edgar
MFAA Officer to Dr. LF. Benwett, Harrisburg State' Hospital, HarriSburg,!
Pennsylvania, November 4, 1948, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Records of the Propet1Y
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Division, Box 485 [117624].
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104 Dr. Ivan F. Bennett, MD to Mr. Edgar Breitenbach, MFAA Officer, November 22, 1948, NACP, RG
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260, Ardelia HallCollection,Records of the Property Division, Box 485 [117625-117626].
105 Stat~ment of Frau Josefa Krinner, December 14, 1948,NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection,
Records ofthe Property Division;Box 485 [117627J.
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106 Stefan P. Munsing, ChiefMFAA Section, Restitution Branch to Dr. Ivan F. Bennett, December 18,
1948, NACP, RG.260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Records of the Property Division, Box 485 [1l76~9].
107 Reading Company Receipt froin Ivan F. Beimett, Collegeville, PA to OMG Bavaria, Property ,
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Division, MFAA Section, January 3; 1949, NACP, RG260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Records ofthe
Property Division;, Box 485 [117630]. Stefan P. Munsing to R~ading Railroad Company, Collegdville,
Pa., "Property ofIvan F.Bennett, MD," April28, 1949, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection,
Records of the Property Division, Box 485 [117631].
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The shortage of available guards' presented many difficulties. Behavior ofreplace11fent
guards was the source of even more difficulties. In February 1947;criticisms of the guard~
included: fires being started by guards contrary to orders, frequent and sudden reductions qf the
number of guards posted, the removal of guards for their "total incapacity to perform their ~ost
elementary duties," guards being drunk on duty, guards having their German girlfriends in ;the
CCP "absolutely contrary to orders and instructions," guards acting rudely to the German ~ivil
staff of the CCP, destroying signs and notices at the CCP,and allowing unauthorized visitors to
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enter the buildin~. 108
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The relationship between poor security and theft was articulated perfectly i~ respo~se to a
theft of a painting from Walter Weber's office'in Frankfurt. The painting, which was to be'
shipped to Wiesbaden, disappeared from the office in October 1947. The investigation
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conducted by an American Public Safety Officer revealed that local Kripo members stole ttte
work but that an '~extreme lack of security" had been in effect. The office had been left :
unoccupied, the doors were unsecured and "an apparently careless policy of security was b~ing
allowed to continue.,,109
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A theft at the Wiesbaden Collecting Point was discovered as officials moved items!
around in the storage areas of the CCP in February 1947. Officials discovered four paintiqgs to
be missing: two paintings had been looted from the Gurlitt collection and were stored at tM CCP
awaiting restitution, two other paintings from a group of pictures oflhe Frankfurt Stadel G~llery,
paintings that had Jewish owners originally. 110 A statement by the Director of Wiesbaden,:
Frances Bilodeau; indicated that there were even more problems at the CCP ~ith the disco~ery
of at least 14 missing works. According to the statement, Bilodeau first discovered one paj,nting
by Blechen to be missing on January 22, 1947. He dir~cted the CCP's Tc;:chnical Assistant!to
search for it and tprough her search, fourteen additional works were discovered to be missing. I I I
Upon learning this, Bilodeau contacted Theo<;lore Heinrich, Chief ofMFAA in Greater Hesse,
the Provost Marshal, two officers of the Security Guard Company and Edwin Rae of the CID.
By January 28 a CID representative had arrived at Wiesbaden. Bilodeau gave the agent a tour,
lists of the missing works and of individuals with passes to the building as well as photogr~phs
of the missing works. Further notification of the theft was provided to Everett Lesley, Chief of
Restitution Section for Hesse, the Director ofIntelligence and Richard Howard, Chief ofMFAA
for the American zone of Germany. Bioldeau urged that the CCP be shut down in light of the
thefts, but Howar~ and Theodore Heinrich disagreed. 112 The total number of works missing
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108 Office of Military Government for Greater Hesse, Status of Collecting Point Report, February 4J 1947,
NACP, RG 260, ,Afdelia Hall Collection, Box 128 [111043a-l11043].
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109 Walter Weber, MFAA Officer to Public Safety Section, "Stolen Painting," October 31, 1947; ana
Joseph P. Thomas,:Public Safety Officer, notes on letter, November 12, 1947, NACP, RG 260, Ar4elia
. :
. Hall Collection, Box 176 [119473].
110 Notes of Dr. --- Brandis, TechniCal Assistant, Wiesbaden Collecting Point, "Revision ofPaintin~s in
Room 26 on February 17 th 47," February 19, 1947, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 5'6
[119525-119526]. ,The two missing Gurlitt paintings were: Teriiers, Landscape with kitties ?? and:
Marstrande,ItalianDance. The other two paintings are described as "oil paintings on copper 14 b~ 17.5
cm by an unknown German painter ofthe 17th century."
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111 Statement to the CID by Francis Bilodeau, Director ofWiesbaden Collecting Point, February 18l1947,
NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 56 [119527-119528].
112 Note here why they disagreed and why their disagreement is important
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grew to. twenty by January 31, 1947: At the time of Bilodeau's statement, only one painting had
been located. The missing paintings w~re valued at $20,480. FIve belonged to the
Administration of Berlin Castles and Gardens, on~ to the Staatliche'Museum, Berlin and tHe
remaining£ourteJn?? Check original docu'n:lertt)belonged to the Stadel Kunstinstitut, ,
Frankfurt 13 "
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3. .Salzburg ~ilitary Governm'ent W,arebo,llse ,
i i. Gold Train information,
• ii. Tucker and ber rriontbly reports (castles/officers' clubs)
The testiniony offine arts otliaalsis important to not" in
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co~ection to an evaluatibn ~f· .I¢)
the performance Ofthe US. 'forces as ctistodiansfor victims': art and cultUral property. SOIhe, .
like James Rorim'er, made general reflections about the responsibility and nature ofproblerb.s he
e~count~r~~., OtHers, like Evelyn Tucker, Fine Arts Representative,:for USFA, made sharp Ian
dIrect cnticlsms of the her fellow officers and the USFA command and commented on several
instances of misappropriations.
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In 1949 as her position was to beelimillated, she wrote to Ardelia Hall at the U.S. I
. Department ofSt~~e with a lengthy complaint on the treatment of her position and the overkll
poor regard in w~ich other officers held their responsibilities for art. Tucker criticized her ~oss
who "in his first capacity he is custodian of1)1Y art depot in Salzburg- which he has used ~s a
requisition dump :for officers homes and dubs." Her own efforts to "protect the art depotih
Salzburg from th~se inr6ads,"h~v!ng been~mide without avail. 114 Tucker lamented furthe~, "If
only I had had one'-halfthe support from tQIS headquarters!" She casts most of the fault fOf any
obstructions she faced in her duties on USF A as an organization: "USFA must bear the ultimate
responsibility,. although the direCt responsibIlity for this fiasco must rest on'the first responkible
officer."!!:;
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Tucker, not only commented on the responsibility for. problem she also 'identIfied the
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problems she faced:
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. [T]here iFrench looted fineart~ in the·General's villa in Sal~burg,Dut~h fine
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arts in the, General's vill" inLinz,a French looted painting in the Officers Club in
. Salzburg T all definitely identified and incll!ded on 'claims but I have not been
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allowed t6 reveal that! have found them; ALt. Col. returned to the States recently
from Salzburg takiqg with him 26 oriental Hunganan rugs - McKee (my chief)
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, refused td let me write the Provost Marshall of hi's Army.Post to investigate. I ' ,
was only al10wed to write,the officer a nice letter of inquiry., The Salzburg Gold I
Coin Coll¢ction was' looted while'in possession of the Military Detachment of
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Statement to th~ Cill, by Francis Bilodeau, Director ofWiesbaden Collecting Point, February 1~, 1947,
NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, BoX: 56 [1.19527-119528]. The 14 paintings ofthe.Stiideli
. 113
Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt had most likely come from Jewish victims originally???'
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Evelyn Tuckt!r, Hq USACA,RD&R Division, R&R Branch, to A. Hall, January 6, 1949, NAC~, RG
59, box 17 [bates number to be added].
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115 EvelynTucker',Hq USACA, RD&R Division;R&R Bran~h, to A. Hall, Jan~ary 6, 1949, NACIt, RG
59, box 17 [bates number to be added]. Tucker names ~he first responsible officer as her "first chief- the
chief of this [RD&R] Branch.
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Hallein, Austria; sev'eral truckloads of fine arts were brought to Vienna by
General Clark (for his quarters here) from Castle Klessheim in Salzburg; seven
paintings were stolen from Lauffen mine, including a Rubens and a van Dyke,
while under protection of US personnel; seven valuable engraving& four of them
by Durer,;were stolen from Alt-Aussee salt mine while under protection of US
personneL 116
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Further problems: included three art depots with unidentified loot, no investigations havingibeen
made of officers clubs and villas, and with scores of outstanding art claims unsettled. In tHe face
of losing her assignment and being sent back to the United States, Tucker voiced the abovJ to
Ardelia Hall, who would have been in a position to follow up on some of the charges. With so
many problems remaining, Tucker insinuated that her position was being eliminat~d "Because
the m.an who has ,been chief here since April 46 must return to the States in June and he wants no
investigations made which he is not in a position to block - therefore the art investigator rrlust go
before he does."117
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Tucker closes her letter with a hope that "[t]he above sorry story is given you in thJ
hopes that you maybe able to get out'some restitution directive on fine arts "with some teclth in
it" so this awful mess can be clean,ed Up.,,118 Such dean-up was necessary as most of the ~ases
had had no investigation, though Tucker felt that it had all been carefully documented by the
Austrian government.
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4. Conclusions: What kinds of problems are brought to light by these incidents
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; i. Non-US 'personnel who were needed because of limited US pers~n:nel
and scope of operation
Highlighted by the breaks in security demonstrated by the above cases, it is clear tqat in
the postwar occupatio~ of Germany and Austria that u.,S. authorities faced competing and:
compelling priorities when working to protect victims' art and cultural property. As troop~ re:
deployed, fewer guards were available for protection of assets at U.S. collecting points and
1
depots. As the pool of guards decreased, it became necessary to use non-American guards- ;not
all of whom performed to their potential. The decision to use these guards can not be faul~ed, yet
as the evidence a1Jove demonstrates it was as much a cause for concern to those in positioris of
authority at the time as it is for those who work to 'evaluate the security of victims' art and!
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cultural property.
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ii.Blurred distinction between military necessity and rewards for i
, conquering victims (Gold Train response! Ambrose's argument),
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iii. Problems between different forces (fighting vs. occupation)
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Evelyn Tucker,;H'.q USACA, RD&RDivision, R&R Branch, to A. Hall, January 6, 1949, NACf, RG
59, box 17 [bates number to be added]. ,
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117 Evelyn Tucker, Hq USACA, RD&R Division, R&R B~;'mch, to A. Hall, January 6, 1949, NACP, RG
59, box 17 [bates number to be added].
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118 Evelyn Tucker"Hq USACA, RD&R Division, R&R Branch, to A. Hall,January 6, 1949, NACP, RG
59, box 17 [bates number to be added].
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III.
Investigative and Recovery Procedures
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When efforts were focused and resources were available, the U.S. agencies respon~ible
did a good job in investigating the circumstances of unauthorized removals and, in some cases,
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of tracking and recovering the stolen art assets. Krinner and Hesse Crown Jewels are mostly
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success stories, while in the case of the removal of the Quedlingburg treasure U.S. authorities
were not successful (facts known? but no action)
The loss of items during a period of combat proved most difficult for the Army to i
investigate. The reasons were many: the combat situation, the constant movement of troop,s, the
difficulty of tracing a stolen item. In April 1947 Andre Kormendi called the continued
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investigation into' a valuable manuscript removed from a German home "impossible,", "as ~he
unit in question has returned a long time ago to the States, and it would be impracticable to'trace
the disappearance of the manuscript to any single person, the more so that the US govern.nient
cannot assume responsibility for damage which occurred during combat period.,,119
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1. Recovery Program run by the 'U.S. State Department
In addition to the efforts to prevent the theft ofart and cultural property by U.S. for~es,
there were measures intended to prevent the entry of illegally acquired objects into the United
States. In its first attempts to address the entry of art qbjects taken by U.S. forces, the Rbb~rts
Commission circularized the museum and library community to warn of the danger of acc~pting
such loot into their collections. Ardelia Hall's office in the Department of State followed i
through on the Roberts Commissions efforts with an additional circular and through participation
in several larger government efforts to prevent the entry oflodted art into the U.S. 11
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In preparation for the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee (SWNCC) fiteasure 322,
Ralph Stimson, ~ official of the State Department, delineated the prevailing international legal
mechanisms for the return of looted objects entering the United States. 120 Based on this legal
foundation, his memo committed the United States to the maintenance of "existing measures so
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far as they are applicable" as well as to the development of "further measures as are feasible to
discover, apprehend and restitute cultural objects looted or illegally seized by Axis gove~ents
!
Andre Kormendi, MF AIA Officer Northern Bavaria to State Archives Niirnb~rg, attn: Direktor Dr.
Fridolin Sol1eder, "Loss of Valuable Manuscript in Feuchtwangen," April 17, 1947, NACP, RG 260,
Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 265 [106436].
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120 Ralph Stimson to Mr. George W. Baker (Assistant Chief, Division of Economic Security Controls),
Mr. Walter Surrey; Mr. Robinson, "Restitution of Looted Cultural Property Seeking Safehaven in tpe
United States," January 30, 1947, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D-4, Box 1 [114895-114898]. The legal b~sis
was defined: The Hague Convention, specifically Article 3 from Convention IV in 1907 and Articl~s 28,
47, and 56 of the regulations relating to laws and customs of war on land; Allied declarations of policy,
including the London Declaration, the Bretton Woods Resolution VI, Resolution XIX of the Inter- [
American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, Mexico City, February-March 1945, the agreement
on quadripartite pr?cures for restitution, adopted Aril 17, 1946 by the Coordinating Committee of tpe
Allied Control Authority for Germany, Military Government Law No. 52 and Title 18 ofMG regulations;
and finally, the 'Joint approach by the United States, GreatBritain and France under the tripartite !
agreement reaqhed at Paris on July 8, 1946" that requested that the governments of the liberated coUntries
compile lists of the cultural objects still missing after restitution from Germany and Austria," and a:lso for
the neutral country governments to "adopt spedal , measures of customs control and publicity desi~ed to
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discover and facilitate restitution of the listed objects."
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, or personnel or by other persons including members of the arnied forces of the United N atibns
~or..shipRed in"
and found in the United States or seeking t9 be imported into, exported fr
transit through the' United ,States."l2l Stimson al,so finds the rescinding 0
'51 Q7~",dn Juhe 30,
1946, contraryto~the international commitments of the United States government, unless tlie
existing measures could provideadeHuate control, or"unless additional measures could be I .
adopted in thene~r future. 122 One ofthe "existing measures":thaFwas int~nded to prevent ~he
importation or hapdling of lootedpro'perty was the N atioIial Stolen Property Act; specificaVy
sections 3 and 4, which provide a legal basis for action against persons who knowingly traffic in ,
stolen objectsvcilued at $5,000 or more," 123 Another measure, Section 1593b ofTitle 19 dfthe
United States Code, would also have allowed for the seizure of looted property that person~ ,
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. sought to import in violation of the ,Stolen Property Act.
Stimson, ~ithout condemning the twoineasures above, did:,express the need forthe~ State
and Treasury Departments to "wo~k ,out an equally definite Rroce~Ure for customs control ~o
replace the procedure formerly eXlstmg under T.D. 51072." 24 He proposed that the Tre.asvry
Department establish a "licensing and clearance system to replace T.D. 51072" or to create: an
"executive Order 'pursl,lant to Sections' 3a,' 5b and 16 of the Trading with the Ene~y Act, an~ .
under Itge Nation~l Stolen Act and Articles 56 of the. Hague Rul<;)s of Land Warfare" in its I
place,
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While awaiting'the conclusion of these mor~ formal procedures; Stimson suggested that,
"a practical procep.ure be worked out" in accordance with U.S. treaties, laws and regulatiorls that
would allow for "customs surveillance, seizure, and restitution of looted cultural objects.")r 6 The.
procedure would also have to meet the United States' international commitments as well the
requests receivedifrom the, governments ofliberated countries. In addition to ~ilerting the 1
collectors of cust0ms to the lists and descriptions of missing cultural objects and the laws ,.
designed to prevent entry'oflooteq works' into the U.S., an identification process was designed in '
which photographs and the experti~e of local museums could be used to identify suspiciou~ . , '
objects. Seized works were to be "forfeited by the U~S. Treasury Department to the Department
of State under § li)18 0~Tit1e19 ofthe U:S. Code for restitution to thecouf).tryof origin 'in I
as
,
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Stir:nso~ t~
~hief,
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Contr~ls);
J2JRaiph
Mr. Ge01:geW.Baker (Assistant
Division of Economic Security
Mr. Walter Surrey;Mr. Robinson, "Restitution of Looted Cultural Property Seeking Safehaven in the
United States," JanUary 30, 1947, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D-4, Box 1 [114895-114898].
122 Ralph Stimson to Mr. George W. Ba~er, Mr., Walter Surrey, Mr. Robinson, "Restitution of Lootrd
Cultural Property ~eeking Safehaven in the United States," January 30, 1947, NACP, RG59, Lot 6,2D-4,
, Box 1 [114895-114~98].
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123 Ralph Stimson to Mr. George W. Baker, Mr. Walter Surrey, Mr.'Robinson, "'Restitution of Looted
Cultural Property Seeking Safehaven in the United States,': January 30, 1947, NACP, RG59, Lot 62D-4,
r
Box 1[114895-114898]. The National Stolen, Property Act was approved May 22, ' I
1934 and became
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124 Ralph Stimson to'Mr. George W. Baker, Mr. Walter Surrey, Mr. Robinson, '~Restitution of Looted
Cultural Property SeeKing Safehaven in the United States,'; January 30, ' 1947, NACP, RG 59'; Lot 62D-4,
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Box 1 [114895-114898].
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125 Ralph Stimson to Mr. George W, Baker, Mr. Walter Surrey, MI'. Robinson, "Restitution of Looted
Cultural Property Seeking Safehaven in the UriitedStates," January 30, 1947, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D-4,
Box 1 [114895-114898].
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126 Ralph . Stimson to Mr. George. . ' ,
W. Baker, Mr. Walter Surrey, Mr. Robinson, "Restitution of Looted
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Cultl)Ial Property Seeking Safehaven in the United States," January 30, 1947, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D-4,
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Box 1 [114895-11;898].
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accordance witfi SWNCC 32~n certain instances, cases would be referred to the Department
of Justice for ac'trol1~against--irfilividuals.127 Finally, Stimson proposes to give more publicity to
. the "lists, descriptions and photographs of missing cultural objects received from liberated;
governments," in: addition to enlisting the cooperation ofart museums, dealers, and specialized
personnel "to assist in the recovery and restitution of the objects." 128
i
Carl A. Sauer, Acting Chief in the Division of Libraries and Institutes, worked to !
implement SWNCC 322 on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. Sauer sent many lettefs in
secure \vorks
the name of continuing the functions of the Roberts Commission and attempting to!
,
of art that had en~ered the country illegally. In September of 1948 letters were sent to the :
museums that the Roberts Commission,had not concluded arrangements with for the rele~e of
objects or the transport of those objects~o the National Gallery. One such letter was sent tethe
John Herron Art Institute in Indiana, ,Sauer wrote, "when the Department of State assumed the
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contii:miIig functions of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage1 and
of Artistic
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Historic Mo~u~ents in .War Areas, it was informed th~t the John Herron Art Institute heldrin
custody a pamtmg by Pleter Neeffs(1661), of an "Intenor of the Arltwerp Cathedral" brought to
thet!ihited States under unknown circumstances and by an unknown individual." Sauer asks the
Director, Wilbur Peat, to forward all information about how the painting came to the atten~ion of
the museum as the information may be important in "identifying the ownership of the painting."
Sauer enclosed a .bill of lading for the work to be sent to the National .Gallery of Art as well as a
i
copy of the policy document "Return of Looted Objects to Countries of Origin." This
correspondence followed upon the completion of the arrangements of the ~rogram for the return
of such objects "':'pon verification of ownership to the country of origin."] 9 A similar lett6r was
sent to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the recovery of Japanese sword fittings,130 to tHe
Norfolk Museum! of Arts and Sciences for the return of two oil paintings and one f:astel frqm the
Bologna area, believed to have been imported by the brother of Mrs. Earl Shamp, 31 to the!
Collector ofCust~ms in Detroit, Michigan for the artobjects detained from Mr. Donald wpitney
of Detroit, 132 and,to the Collector of Customs in Bowling Green, New York in relation to their
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127 Ralph Stimson to Mr. George W. Baker, Mr. Walter Surrey, Mr. Robinson, "Restitution of Looted
Cultural Property Seeking Safehaven in the United States," January 30, 1947, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D-4,
. I
Box 1 [114895-114898].·
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IZ8 Ralph Stimson to Mr. George W. Baker, Mr. Walter Surrey, Mr. Robinson, "Restitution of Looted
,
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Cultural Property Seeking Safehaven in the United States," January 30, 1947, NACP, RG 59, Lot ~2D-4,
Box I [114895-114898].
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129 Carl A. Sauer, A.cting Chief, Division of Libraries and Institutes, Department of State to Mr. Wibur D.
Peat, Director of the John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana, September 28 (or 26 check
original), 1948, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D-4, Box 1 [114991-114992].
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130 Carl A. Sauer, Acting Chief, Division of Libraries and Institutes, Department of State to Miss Joan
Lee, Acting Curator of Eastern Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 28, 1948, NACP, RG 5,9, Lot
i
62D-4, Box 1 [114993].
131 Carl A. Sauer, Acting Chief, Division of Libraries and Institutes, Department of State to·Mrs .. ~arriet
C. Crane, Director Norfolk Museum-of Arts and Sciences, September 28, 1948, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D
4, Box 1 [114994-P4995].'
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132 Carl A. Sauer, ..;\cting Chief, Division of Libraries and Institutes, Department of State to MartinR.
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Bradley, The Collector of Customs; Detroit, Michigan, September 28, 1948, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D-4,
Box I [114998]. !
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custody of several art objects detained in New York, 133 In a letter to the Collector of Customs in
Chicago concerning the return of 949 coins detained from shipment to Mr. Fred Cooper in <Edna,
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Kansas, Sauer went an additional step by acknowledging the State Department's appreciation of
the office's initiative in "making the reco:very ofthese coins possible.,,134
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2. Reports on Objects Returned from the United States
!
Between 1945 and 1961, the Department of State and the Bureau ofCustomsj.1.at1~orked
together on 61 cases for<the return of works of art recovered in the United States. The art works
were returned fro~ many areas. in t~e ~.S ..as a result ofthe assistance ofthe !ocal Custon:~....--""W~\,.I
Bureau offices and other Amencan InstItutIOns. A chart of these returns detaIls th~9J'e'ctS;how they were reported and recovered, as well as to whom they were returned.*""Tiie objects were
returned through many foreign embassies situated in Washington D.C., including the Fren~h,
Polish, German, Dutch, Italian, British, and Russian Embassies. In addition, the U.S. returned ,
items to OMGUS, the Federal Republic ofGerm~ny, the Bundesdenkmalamt, the BavariariI Land <
,
Office; and the U.S. Political Advisor in Trieste. Three unusual cases involved returns to the
Office of MilitarY History in the Department ofthe Army, a permanent deposit of a work .Jith .
the National Coll~ction of Fine Arts in the Smithsonian Institution,and a private return to the
i
Library of Polish 'Academics and Scientists directly. 135
The returns took many shapes and the value of returned materials varied from case to
case. While some returns are listed as occurring in the very early postwar years, most oftqe
returns were made after 1949. Fred Cooper, a former soldier was made to return 948 coins~ ,
through the Collector of Customs in Chicago in 1949. The coins were returned to OMGUS
I
though there was no known owner at the time of return. The Los Angeles County Museul11 of
Art assisted in the,return ofa ')eweled renaissance figurine of man and monkey" from H.P[
Johnson, another Army soldier, to OMGUS where it could be restituted to the Mannheimef:
Collection, a German Jewish family from whom it had been looted originally. MFAA Officers
in the OMG Bavaria 'assisted in the return of an early 18th century Brussels tapestry from t~e art
dealers A. M. Adler and George F. Schimann to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, its
rightful owner. In 1950, the Detroit Institute of Arts returned the Monet painting, Peniches sur
fa Seine, through the State Department and the French Embassy in D.C. to Madam Fernand
Halphen, a French victim residing in Paris. Bound reports ofNEI from 1767-1939 were '
"returned by requ'est" from the Library of Congress to the Netherlands Embassy and the
Netherlands Government on September 10, 1954.
I
Not all cases involved the return of an object to Europe. Some returns were made to the
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Pacific Theater and in one case the materials in question was still in the U.S. as of 1961. Tpe
Library of Congress was asked to return the Record Books of the Military Academy of Pilsen,
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133 Carl A. Sauer, Acting Chief, Division of Libraries and Institutes, Department of State to The Collector
of Customs, U.S. Customs House, Bowling Green, N.Y., N.Y., September 28, 1948, NACP, RG 59, Lot
62D-4, Box 1 [114997].
:
134 Carl A. Sauer, Acting Chief, Division of Libraries and Institutes, Department of State to Mr. Jos~ph A.
Ziemba, The Colle~tor of Customs, Chicago, Illinois, September 28, 1948,NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D;-4,
Box 1 [114996].,
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135 Ardelia Hall, "Works of Art Recovered in the United States, List of Cases," November 21, 1961,
NACP, RG 260, L9t 62D-4, Box 1 [117101-117114]. An earlier<version of this case list was comPtled on
August 18, 1954 wjth fewer details and only 35 cases, see RG 59, Lot 62D-4, Boxl [117098-117100].
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Czechoslovakia, though the lists does not indicate whether the materials were transferred f~rther
than the Office of Military History in the Department of the Anny in the U.S. after it was ;
r~ceived there on September 21, 1955. 136 Finally, one of the most interestin~ requested retpms
involved 289 objects, silverware and rugs, that were classified as "Nazi loot found in Austria."
The materials were received from the Quartennaster Corps, Department of the Anny and, i
137
returned to the Bundesdenkmalamt and the Austrian government on July 30, 1957.
3. Tucker's frustrations (rants against obstructions, etc ...)
4. Destruction of CID files (need archives memo with procedure); Rorimer's
reflections on the efforts of the MFAA and CID
I
Crim~nal
Divisio~
The
Investigative
(CID) investigated allegations of criminal acts I
involving U;S; military personnel. While mostoftheir case load involved violent acts including
!
assault, rape and 1nurder, they also investigated allegations of misconduct in relation to
property-both in cases of theft and mistreatment.' ,Working with the Provost Marshal oftfue
,
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Seventh Anny, the eID investigated such allegations at Trendelburg Castle in Gennany inl
September 1945.: The investigation was called ~fter complaints were received alleging theft and
damage of property at the castle by American troops when they occupied the castle from J~ne 1
2 and 15-16, 1945. Investigation revealed that American troops had occupied the castle from
April 7 through April 22 as well. The CID agent responsible for the investigation wrote of; the
case that "[t]he units involved here have since been redeployed, making the fixing of specipc
culpability patently impossible at this juncture.,,138 ,
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Regarding the perfonnance'ofthe CID, Rorimer noted:
The layman will often wonder why the CID office did not follow up more of these i
cases. In the first place, they were busywith more serious problems and even
when the MFA&A officers prepared a case it was apt to be dependent upon
allegations which could not be proven- the "corpus delicti" rarely being available
and they usually were substantiated only by the testimony of prejudiced
Gennans. The redeployment to the Pacific before V -J day, and then to the United'
States, made difficult and sometimes Impossible the satisfactory investigation of
these cases. I should like to know"what finally happened to a few which I pursued!
dilligently,.for several months. My colleagues who have returned arid others who I
have rem~ined in Gennany do n()t seem encouraged by the prospects of even.
settling most of them. 139
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136 Ardelia Hall, "Works of Art Recovered in the United States, List of Cases," November 21, 1961:,
NACP,RG260, Lot 62D-4, Box 1 [117101-117114].
:
137 Ardelia Hall, ."Works of Art Recovered in the United States, List of Cases," November 21, 1961;,
NACP, RG 260, Lot 62D..4, Box 1 [117101-117114].
th
138 Criminal Investigations Division 7 Army, Report of Phillip Benzell, Agent CID, File No. CIDfJ.80-33
U1
(7 Army) - 1010, September 22, 1945, NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 17 [105543
1
105549]..
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139 James Rorimer, :Manuscript for Survival, "Education," p. 9, Archives of American Art, James Rbrimer
Papers [bates number to be added].
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The Criminal Police in Munich also assisted in the return oflooted objects to the :
American authorities. In early March 1946 radio and press announcements made by the Police
authorities resulted in the return of six paintings and eight colored lithographs; 140
5. Victims had to come forward to pursue their claims; without such pre~sure
and the threat of such pressure, the investigation was dropped?
I
i. Bernheimer claim info (that some had been looted or destroyed)
90,
In the investigation into claims submitted by and on behalf of victims, it was frequ~nt1y
only the pressure of the c1aimant that elicited responses that tied U.S. forces to the loss of i
victims' property. In reference to claims received from the Bernheimer famiiy, Richard Hbward
was informed that of the 184 items claimed, 51 items were not able to be traced. In pursuit of the
items, 41 letters had been received that indicated that these 51 claims had been lost to boriIbing,
looting by troops, or to untraceable owners. 141
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ii. Aubusson Rug and claims follow-up
The fact that an object had been mishandled was not always Immediately apparent,;and
always returned. For some of the claimants it took years to determinelthat
the objects were
their looted property was lost after coming under U.S. controL Such was the case with an :
Aubusson rug confiscated by the Nazis from a German Jew. In this case an investigation
conducted over fiye years did not provide clear answers. Ardelia Hall first learned of the i
'problem of the Aubusson rug on April 10, 1950 in a conversation with Edgar Breitenbach in
Munich. Hall learned that the huge rug, measuring 9x 10 meters, belonged to the Mayer-F;uld
family, "big telephone people ,in Germany." Lt. Daniel Kern, of the CIC took the rug from'I
Hoffman's estate to the original colle~ting point in Munich. When asked about the rug years
later, Kern told Mayer-Fuld that he "had a pretty good idea of where the rug is.142
,!
Shortly following the initiaLconversation, Hans Strauss, Mayer.:Fuld's attorney,
!
contacted HalL He requested Hall's assistance as "the rug apparently has disappeared whil~
being in the possession of the U.S. Military Forces in Germany." Strauss described Mayet-Fuld '
,
as "a former resident of Berlin, Germany, and in view of her Jewish origin a victim ofthe :
discriminatory and confiscatory legislation of the Nazi regime.,,143 The rug in question wa~
Parisian and manufactured in the style of Louis XVI. Strauss also provided details of the I
confiscation,
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140 For Captain Rae, "Pictures received following Press and Radio announcement about looted pictutes
through Criminal Police, Munich, taken to Art Collecting Point.1 Mar 46," NACP, RG 260, Ardeli~ Hall
Collection, File: Hitler Linz Museum V Retrieved Hitler paintings, Box 427 [120119]. For Captain
Rae, "Pictures received following Press and Radio announcement about looted pictures through Cdninal
Police, Munich, taken to Art Collecting Point 6March 1946,"NACP, RG 260, Ardelia Hall Collection,
File: Hitler Linz Museum V Retrieved Hitler paintings, Box 427 [120120]. By March 1, the returns '
included three oil paintings and eight lithographs. Between March 1 and March 6 three additIonal !
paintings were returned.
;
141 To Mr. Richard F. Howard, MF A&A Section, Restitution Branch, Property Division, OMGUS, Gable,
FM UFB 17, December I, 1948, NACP, RG 260,Ardelia Hall Collection, Box 67 [119478]. Howard
was to complete the claim by December 15, 1948, and as of the first still had 27 cases open for
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investigation.
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142 Memorandum of Conversation, Ardelia Hall and Edgar Breitenbach, "Aubusson Rug," April '10,1950,
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NACP, RG 59,Lot 62D-4, Box 21 [111749]. '
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143 Hans Strauss to Ardelia Hall, April 12, 1950, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D-4, Box 21 [111747-111748].
33
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�[t]his mu~eum piece was one of several hundred equally valuable items which
were forcibly brought to an auction by the Nazi Government on June 10th , 1940,
and was "acquired" therein by the official photographer of the late Nazi leader
Hitler, one Heinrich Hoffmann ofMunich~ Bavaria .. .It has been established that
the said Mr. Hoffmann was still in the possession of the Aubusson rug at the time
of the occupation of Munich by the U.S. Military'Forces,and Mr. Breitenbachhas i
confirmed to Mrs. Mayer-Fuld on January 11, 1950, that the rug was delivered by
Hoffmann to the Monuments and Fine Arts Office of the Military Government for :
Germany ,(U.S.) at Holbeinstrasse in Munich. 144
Hall wrote to Lane Faison at the Munich CCP to determine the location of the rug, ~nd
more facts about the handling of the rug by U.S. forces:
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I have stalled in this case until I had an opportunity to see Craig Smythe on his
return from Italy and you might be in Munich to investigate the matter ...Now Mr.
Smythe tt:lls me that the rug never was brought to the Munich CCP and there is
probably no entry about it there. It was taken by the colonel who was first the
,Chief.ofProperty Control (this colonel has since died) and used in one of the
offices at the headquarters in Holbienstrasse; Smythe saw it there ... Mr. Smythe is ;
ofthe opinion that the rug was so enormous that it may still be on the floor of one !
145
of the offices.
r
Mayer-Fuld's representative, Hans Strauss also communicated with Phillip Hodge,:
another State Department official. He wrote on May 9, 1951 stressing the U.S. responsibifity for
the rug, "as you recall, the valuable rug disappeared while in the possession of the Office cif
Military Governri:tent for Germany and Mrs. Meyer-Fuld is most anxious to obtain satisfaction
, '
with regard to the problem." 146
The investigative trail into the location of the rug ended in 1955 with Ardelia Hall ;
compiling a memo related to a conversation with Daniel 1. Kern, who told Hall that "the Mayer
Fuld Aubusson rug was in the basement at Guffleham and that it was 6x9 meters and very thick."
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1 7 Kern gave a history of the U.S. control of the rug saying:
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It took 8 men to move it. The 14th Armored Division brought in a rug ...The rug
was in the office of a Colonel Chief of Property Control on Holbeinstrasse. In
Mr. Rae's day (former MFA&A'director ofMCCP) it was moved to Main
Military Government Office. 148
From there, Kern stated that he took the rug to Property Division Colonel Charles Keagan.: Of
the final location I of the rug, Kern could only state his belief that a German, named George:I
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Hans Strauss to'Ardelia Hall, April 12, 1950, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D-4, Box 21 [111747-111748].
145 Ardelia Hall to S. Lane Faison, February 6, 1951, NACP, RG 59, Fine Arts and Monuments Adviser,
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Box 21 [111746].
146 Hans Strauss, to Mr. Phillip Hodge, A~ting Chief, Special Services Branch, Division of Libraries and
,
Institutions, Department of State, May 9, 1951, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D-4, Box 21 [111750].
147 Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Ardelia Hall and Daniel 1. Kern, re: Mayer-Fuld Rug,
September 1955, NACP, RG 59, Lot 62D-4, Box 21 [111751].
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148 Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Ardelia Hall and Daniell. Kern, re: Mayer-Fuld Rug,
September 1955, ~ACP, Rg 59, Lot 62D-4, Box 21 [11175 L]."
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Spaez, a former Gestapo officer with connections to Hoffmann may have the rug but that he did
not believe that thb rug could be in the u.S. 149
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6. .Conclusion
'i. Victims' assets- no sensitivity except perhaps by the MFAA
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6bi~is an import~t part ofthe record on the question of the U.S. handling ofvictitrls'
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assets butthe cases are not, on,the whole, representative of the behavior ofthe u.s. forces. They
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are important to study, however, in any attempt. to complete the historical ,record on the treatment
of victims' assets'by ~he U.S" authoritie~ responsible for their protection.
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James Rbrimer found the excesses described in his book to be "not isolated cases; n()r, on
the other hand, ar~ they typical of American behavior generally." He defends his discussion of
, them as focusing,'on the excesse~' as beIng "indications ofloose thinking and a lack of discipline
which have reverberations, in Nazi Germany where it was our earnest intention to set an ex~ple'
to apeople who, had lJecome degenerate through their own excesses and those of their leaders."
150
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. American press coverage ofthe acti0ties of U.S. forces has been both critical and :
,.:' ; 'undersbilidin:g: Allegations bfAriiencan' GIs looting captures attenti()l) to .this day including a
recent'article in the New York Time~ by William Honan chronicling examples of former solaiers
r~iumirig' prizes captured as souvenirs during their time in Europe. Honan discusses the effort to
stimulate more returns through museum and government agencies efforts to publish catalogues
on the Internet "describing artworks in their holdings that might have been confiscated or looted'
by members of the armed forces during World War II and, if so proved, should be returned:to
.their rightful owners." The author character1~es the problem saying, "what is belatedly corping
to light. . .is that while American soldiers in World War II were expressly forbidden from stealing
by Articie'9'3 oft,he Artiq,Ies ofWai, a surprising number of American servicemen and
women .. :stole art;works and other valuabl¥s." Honan advises that the only way to profit frbm
war booty is by s~lling it back to its original owner, as any sale of the property to someonelelse is
made without passing clear title. I~ place of illegal sales of booty, or a sale back to the original
owner, Honan argues that the only option left to most GIs is to voluntarily attempt to return the
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets
Description
An account of the resource
<p>The Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States, formed in 1998, was charged with investigating what happened to the assets of victims of the Holocaust that ended up in the possession of the United States Federal government. The final report of the Commission, <a href="http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/pcha/PlunderRestitution.html/html/Home_Contents.html"> “Plunder and Restitution: Findings and Recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States and Staff Report"</a> was submitted to President Clinton in December 2000.</p>
<p>Chairman - Edgar Bronfman<br /> Executive Director - Kenneth Klothen</p>
<p>The collection consists of 19 series. The first fifteen series of the collection are composed mostly of photocopied federal records. These records were reproduced at the National Archives and Records Administration by commission members for their research. The records relate to Holocaust assets created between the mid 1930’s and early 1950’s by a variety of U. S. Government agencies and foreign sources.</p>
<p>Subseries:<br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Art+and+Cultural+Property+">Art and Cultural Property</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Gold+">Gold</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Gold+Team+Review+Form+Binders+">Gold Team Review Form Binders</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Art+and+Cultural+Property+and+%E2%80%9COthers%E2%80%9D+Review+Form+Binders">Art and Cultural Property and “Others” Review Form Binders</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Non-Gold+Financial+Assets+Review+Form+Binders">Non-Gold Financial Assets Review Form Binders</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=History+Associates+Binder+">History Associates Binder</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Non-Gold+Financial+Assets+Review+Form+Binders+%282%29">Non-Gold Financial Assets Review Form Binders (2)</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Financial+Assets+Documents">Financial Assets Documents</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=RG+84%2C+Foreign+Service+Posts+of+the+State+Department%E2%80%94Turkey">RG 84, Foreign Service Posts of the State Department—Turkey</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Financial+Assets+Documents">Financial Assets Documents</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?search=&advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%5BJewish+Restitution+Successor+Organization+%28JRSO%29%2C+Oral+Histories%5D&range=&collection=20&type=&user=&tags=&public=&featured=&exhibit=&submit_search=Search+for+items">[Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO), Oral Histories]</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=PCHA+Secondary+Sources">PCHA Secondary Sources</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Researcher+Notes">Researcher Notes</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Unnumbered+Documents+from+Archives+II+and+Various+Notes">Unnumbered Documents from Archives II and Various Notes</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=RG+260%2C+Finance+Inventory+Forms">RG 260, Finance Inventory Forms</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Reparations">Reparations</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Chase+National+Bank">Chase National Bank</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Administrative+Files">Administrative Files</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Art+%26+Cultural+Property+Theft">Art & Cultural Property Theft</a></p>
<p>Topics covered by these records include the recovery of confiscated art and cultural property; the reparation of gold and other financial assets; and the investigation of events surrounding capture of the Hungarian Gold Train at the close of World War II. These files contain memoranda, correspondence, inventories, reports, and secondary source material related to the final disposition of art and cultural property, gold, and other financial assets confiscated during the Holocaust.</p>
<p>For more information concerning this collection consult the<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/35992"> finding aid</a>.</p>
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/35992" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/1040718" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
2954 folders
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Misappropriation Cases [1]
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States
Art & Cultural Property Theft
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Box 206
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/Systematic/Holocaust-Assets.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/description/6997222" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Adobe Acrobat Document
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
Reproduction-Reference
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
6/24/2013
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
6997222-misappropriation-cases-1
6997222