“I have entrusted the Einsatzstab Rosenberg for the Occupied
Territories with the listing and detailed handling of all
cultural valuables, research materials, and scientific work in
libraries, archives, research institutions, museums, et cetera,
found in public and religious establishments, as well as in
private houses. The Einsatzstab, instructed once again by the
Führer’s order of 1 March 1942, begins its work jointly with the
quartermaster general of the Army immediately after the
occupation of the territories by combat troops and executes this
work after the establishment of civil government, in
co-operation with the competent Reich Commissioner, until such
time as the task is completed. I request all the authorities of
my department to support, as far as possible, the
representatives of the Einsatzstab in the execution of these
measures and to supply them with all essential information,
especially in connection with the registration of objects in the
occupied territories, whether or not they have been removed, and
if so, where this material is located at the present time.”
As you see, Your Honors, the looting of libraries, archives, scientific
research institutes, museums—both public and private—and even of
church treasures, was already being planned.
The fact that this is not a question of preserving cultural treasures,
but of plunder, is revealed by the following excerpt from the letter
mentioned. You will find it on Page 12 of your document book. I quote:
“Insofar as seizures or transports have already taken place
contrary to these provisions . . . Reichsleiter Rosenberg’s
Einsatzstab, Berlin-Charlottenburg (2), Bismarckstrasse 1, must
be informed without delay.”
I shall not burden you by enumerating the many addresses to whom copies
of this letter were sent. I shall merely name some of them: OKH, the
Reich Minister of Economics, the Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan,
the Reich Commissioners for the Baltic regions, the Ukraine, _et
cetera_. Thus this document reconfirms that both Göring and Funk, as
well as the representatives of the OKH, actively participated in this
pillage.
The priceless works of art plundered in the occupied countries were
removed to Germany, now transformed by the Hitlerites into a robber’s
den.
The Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union established that,
in January 1943, the Commander of the 1st Tank Army, Cavalry General
Mackensen, in the presence of the head of the propaganda department of
the 1st Tank Army, Müller, removed from the Rostov Museum of Pictorial
and Plastic Art, which had been evacuated to the town of Piatigorsk and
which was then on the premises of the Lermontov Museum, the most
valuable canvases of Ribera, Rubens, Murillo, Jordaens, Vereshtshagin,
Korovine, Kramskoy, Polenov, Repin, Lagorio, Aivasovsky, and Shishkin,
sculptures by Donatello, and other exhibits.
This statement, Your Honors, has already been presented to the Tribunal
as Exhibit Number USSR-37 (Document Number USSR-37). With your
permission I should like to read into the record only one paragraph on
Page 5 of this document. The quotation is on Page 18 of your document
book. I quote:
“The Rostov Museum of Pictorial Art had been looted and its
contents carried off into Germany by the commander of the 1st
Tank Army, Cavalry General Mackensen, and by the chief of the
propaganda section of the 1st Tank Army, Müller.”
From the affidavit of the Plenipotentiary of the Polish Government,
Stefan Kurovsky, it has been established that the Defendant Frank, in
looting the cultural treasures of the Polish State, was also striving
after his own personal gain. Pictures, porcelain, and other works of art
from the plundered museums of Warsaw and Kraków, particularly from Vavel
Castle, were transferred to the estate of the Defendant Frank.
The affidavit to which I referred is an appendix to the report of the
Polish Government and is presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number
USSR-302 (Document Number USSR-302). This document, Your Honors, is to
be found on Pages 19-20 of your document book.
In this document registered under Document Number 055-PS, which is a
letter from the head of the Political Leadership Group P4 of the Reich
Ministry for the Eastern Occupied Territories, dated 14 September 1944,
there are indications as to where the looted treasures were taken and
stored. This letter, addressed to the “Reich Minister through the Chief
of the Political Leadership Staff” is headed, “Objects of Art Evacuated
from the Ukraine.” This letter is to be found in your document book on
Page 21. I present this letter as documentary evidence and, submit it as
Exhibit Number USSR-372 and I quote the text. I read:
“The Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine has stored the objects
of art and the pictures evacuated from Kiev and Kharkov, in the
following shelters in East Prussia: 1. The Richau family estate,
near Wehlau; 2. Wildenhoff Manor (owner, Count Schwerin).”