Declassified per Executive Order 12958. Section 3.5
NND Project Number: NND 750I68 By: NND Date: ¡975

It must be noted thrt the Nazi policy in regard to the looting of

ert pieces wss e long-range one, end part of the plan enviscEed in case
of defeat. They realized the importance of securing for themselves
stable foreign currency, end the greatest possible financial power
abresd.‘ But, elermed by economic crises throughout the world, they
must have felt thet works of ert are negotieble assets, that they
represent stable international value, and ere a safe investment. This
long-range planning will make more difficult the task of identifi-
cation and the eventual recovery of looted art.

It is seid that the "securing of works of art Wes executnd with the
assistance of the most ndequflte ani laws, from 1936 on in Germany
itself, dnd then all ovor occupied Europe. Jewish Collections provided
the first ensy objectivos. They were followed by the collections be-
longing to political enenies er... to n11 persons end evsn nntions con-
VCniently labeled ns unfriendly to the master rece. The legnl protection
of the loot was nssured in rnny wnys...The Nazis knew thnt ebolitien of
their laws by the victorious allies would nutonnticnlly deprifle then

of the right to their booty. Thus no nrt collection or single work of
art ens seized, requisitioned or robeed bv then without their 'legalizing‘
these crimes by sono sort cf sales certificnte er exchange paper duly
signed by their victims through force. Mereov r, during the tenpernry
conquest of Europe by the Nazis, most ef the looted works of art were
mode the object of n series of successive trnnsnetiens designed te dis-
guise their origin."

There has been considerable difference in the German policy with regard

to art in eastern and western occupied territories.of Europe. In the eastern
part, perticulnrly Polflnd, the Gerrcns nppnrently ende e clean swenp of
collections, bcth public end private. In the western countries, France.
Belgium, Holland, netionnl nuseuns werv left ccnpirntively intict while
priVete coll otions owned by F-wish deslers “nd "rt collectors "rre con-
fiscnted outright. Such uns the tnsk, fer inst'nce, of the nctorious
Einsntzstüb Bos nberp in Peris.

Art tr nsures thus looted were to bunefit the Gurren nation es n whole
by being t1k\n te netionnl ruseums in the Reich, in particuler Hitler's
cun ruseun nt Linz, austri", cr eISe vr'ere ncquired by high-ranking Nazi
efficers and officiels ns e financial snfegunrd fer the future.

During the occupntion of France, Goering end Goebbels were said to have
bought pictures on the Peris art market in dollars, nrrcnging fer their
transport to Switzerland nfterwnrds.' In 1943 Goebbels is snid to have
paid ns much ns 390,000 for a Greco, while Goering is reputed to have
given'his agent "carte blrnche" in buying up works by Picasso. Similnrly
Himmler, Funk, Abetz, Ley, von Behr and von Ribbentrop used their
official positions to lay their hands on vnlunble works of art.