There was plundered from the Western Countries, from 1940 to 1944, works
of art, artistic objects, pictures, plastics, furniture, textiles,
antique pieces, and similar articles of enormous value to the number of
21,903.
In France statistics show the following:
_Removal of Raw Materials._
Coal 63,000,000 tons
Electric energy 20,976 Mkwh
Petrol and fuel 1,943,750 tons
Iron ore 74,848,000 ”
Siderurgical 3,822,000 ”
products
Bauxite 1,211,800 ”
Cement 5,984,000 ”
Lime 1,888,000 ”
Quarry products 25,872,000 ”
and various other products to a total value of 79,961,423,000 francs.
_Removal of Industrial Equipment._
Total: 9,759,861,000 francs, of which 2,626,479,000 francs of machine
tools.
_Removal of Agricultural Produce._
Total: 126,655,852,000 francs, i. e., for the principal products.
Wheat 2,947,337 tons
Oats 2,354,080 ”
Milk 790,000 hectolitres
” (concentrated and in
powder) 460,000 ”
Butter 76,000 tons
Cheese 49,000 ”
Potatoes 725,975 ”
Various vegetables 575,000 ”
Wine 7,647,000 hectolitres
Champagne 87,000,000 bottles
Beer 3,821,520 hectolitres
Various kinds of alcohol 1,830,000 ”
_Removal of Manufactured Products._
To a total of 184,640,000,000 francs.
_Plundering._
Francs: 257,020,024,000 from private enterprise.
Francs: 55,000,100,000 from the State.
_Financial Exploitation._
From June 1940 to September 1944 the French Treasury was compelled to
pay to Germany 631,866,000,000 francs.
_Looting and Destruction of Works of Art._
The museums of Nantes, Nancy, Old-Marseilles were looted.
Private collections of great value were stolen. In this way Raphaels,
Vermeers, Van Dycks, and works of Rubens, Holbein, Rembrandt, Watteau,
Boucher disappeared. Germany compelled France to deliver up “The Mystic
Lamb” by Van Eyck, which Belgium had entrusted to her.
In Norway and other occupied countries decrees were made by which the
property of many civilians, societies, etc., was confiscated. An immense
amount of property of every kind was plundered from France, Belgium,
Norway, Holland, and Luxembourg.
As a result of the economic plundering of Belgium between 1940 and 1944
the damage suffered amounted to 175 billions of Belgian francs.