Catalogue description Folder 3: Supplement dated 15 January 1946 to the Consolidated Interrogation Report ...

Folder 3:

Supplement dated 15 January 1946 to the Consolidated Interrogation Report No 4 by the Art Looting Investigation Unit of the OSS on Hitler's Museum and Library in Linz. Issued 'as result of a recent brief inspection of eleven files of correspondence and financial statements relating to the Sonderauftrag Linz from the Reichskanzlei [office of Dr Lammers]', which became available at the Central Collecting Point in Munich, 'too late for inclusion in the report itself'. Provides amendments and addenda to Consolidated Interrogation Report No 4 listed according to page number and providing information in particular on the acquisition of the Czernin Vermeer, the role of several personalities such as Goepel, Herbst and Schilling and several other acquisitions made in Holland and Austria. Also contains four attachments. Attachment 83 includes two letters [in German with English translation] from Bormann and Dr Voss to Reichminister Lammers referring to Voss becoming Posse's successor and enclosing a certificate confirming Voss's appointment as Sonderbeauftragter for the Linz project, dated February 1943. Attachment 84 includes correspondence between Voss, art dealer H Gurlitt and J Cavens relating to the sale of an early Italian tondo on wood representing the Virgin and Child surrounded by angels, dated August-September 1944. Attachment 85 provides a letter from Voss to Lammers stating that 'Gurlitt [...] has sometimes been unable to buy certain specified paintings which I had selected [...] and which were, for technical reasons, paid for in advance. With my approval [...] he purchased in their stead paintings of corresponding value', as listed. Attachment 86 is a letter from von Hummel to Bormann enclosing a copy of the receipt for the acquisition of a Watteau landscape for 3,000,000 f by Frau Maria Dietrich for the Linz Museum, dated May-September 1944.

87-page Consolidated Interrogation Report No 4 by the Art Looting Investigation Unit of the OSS on Hitler's Museum and Library in Linz divided into nine chapters, dated 15 December 1945.

Chapter I provides an introduction to the Fuehrer's plans for the establishment of the Fuehrermuseum in Linz and his plans for the city, setting out the structure and activity of the Sonderauftrag Linz from its inception to its operations in Austria, Poland, France, Holland, Belgium and Italy, and its activity from March 1943.

Chapter II consists of an overview of the organisation of the Linz Commission with a list of the Party leaders involved - first and foremost Hitler, but also Reichsleiter Martin Bormann, Ministerialraete Hanssen and von Hummel and Reichsminister Lammers, its Directorate headed initially by Dr Posse and later by Dr Voss and including Drs Wolffhardt, Ruprecht and Dworschak as well as lesser functionaries, Goering's connection with Linz, and the involvement of Himmler and the SS.

Chapter III describes in detail the methods of acquisition of works of art destined for the Linz Museum through gifts, confiscation and exchange, forced sales as in the case of the Schloss and Mannheimer collections, the Czernin Vermeer and the purchases made from the Kameradschaft der Kuenstler, and purchases, including information on the travel and financial facilities provided for the Linz agents abroad.

Chapter IV provides lists of all German agents and buyers involved in the Sonderauftrag Linz divided between Nazi officials - Heinrich Hoffmann, Kajetan Muehlmann and Erhard Goepel, chief dealers and agents active abroad - Karl Haberstock, Frau Maria Dietrich, Dr Gurlitt, Dr Herbst, Prince Philipp von Hessen and Brueschwiler, and lesser figures including Rochlitz, Lange, Weinmueller, Bornheim, Lohse and Troost, with information on their backgrounds, activities and acquisitions.

Chapter V provides an overview of the Fuehrermuseum's acquisitions, divided according to their geographical location. Section A relates to the confiscations carried out in France by the ERR and the German Embassy in Paris, together with the purchases and the objects obtained during the 'Aktion Berta', the seizure of Baron Cassel's collection. Section B includes an overview of the acquisitions made in Holland through the Dienststelle Muehlmann, the Goudstikker firm, the Lanz and Koenigs collections and other miscellaneous purchases. Section C provides information on the confiscations and purchases carried out by and on the activity of the Ahnenerbe in Italy. Section D consists of an overview of the confiscations and purchases made in Czechoslovakia, section E in Poland and section F in Switzerland, with details of the works of art acquired by exchange and of Buemming's activities for the Linz library, while sections G-J relate to the confiscations and purchases made in Austria, Germany, Great Britain and the US including an offer made from the US through the German Embassy in 1940 for the sale of five Lenbachs 'all belonging to an old New York family'.

Chapter VI focuses on the establishment and growth - mainly through purchases and confiscations - of the Linz library, with particular reference to the Lobkowitz affair revolving around the music collection of Prince Lobkowitz in Prague.

Chapter VII provides a summary of the scope of the collection, amassed mainly at the Alt Aussee salt mine in Austria under the title 'Fuehrervorbehalt'. The May 1945 inventory of material destined for Linz included a total of 5,350 paintings by old masters, 21 contemporary German paintings, 230 drawings and watercolours, 1,039 prints, 95 tapestries, 68 sculptures, 32 cases of coins, 128 items of arms and armours, 64 items of furniture, 79 baskets and 43 cases of objets d'art, 237 cases of books for the Linz library sent from Grundlsee and the Gordon Craig theatre archive, presumably destined for the Linz theatre. The Alt Aussee inventory also included a number of works of art 'which may or may not have been destined for Linz', including 209 paintings and rugs for the Fuehrer's private castle in Posen, 534 paintings, 9 tapestries, 16 sculptures, 11 rugs, 7 portfolios of prints and 16 cases of objets d'art for Hitler's house at Berchtesgaden, 119 cases of books from Hitler's private library in Berlin, the Ghent and Louvain altarpieces, Michelangelo's Madonna, 11 paintings from Bruges and 17 paintings and 11 cases of sculptures and bronzes from Monte Cassino. Further lists the contents of ten smaller depositories of Linz material and includes a table indicating the dates and quantities of works of art shipped from Munich to Alt Aussee, Kremsmunster and Hohenfurth.

Chapter VIII lists the 22 'indispensable' documents kept at the Central Collecting Point in Munich necessary for the identification and administration of the Fuehrermuseum collections, the official card catalogue for which was located at Schloss Weesenstein, Dresden.

Chapter IX consists of the Unit's concluding remarks and recommendations for the handling of the individuals and dealers involved in Sonderauftrag Linz.