Catalogue description Collection of field reports sent on 10 January 1946 for forwarding to the Roberts...

Collection of field reports sent on 10 January 1946 for forwarding to the Roberts Commission [the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas] and copied to the War Office in London, amounting to more than 250 pages in total. Includes a US Third Army Detachment field report on the district of Schwaben [Swabia] for the month of July 1945. The first part of the report, signed by Major William G Wiles, describes the process of setting up the MFA and A section in Schwaben. The second part, signed by James T Tillinghurst, describes the initial activities of the section, which included surveys of buildings and monuments, the vetting of civilian experts to act as assistants, and trips taken to the area around Pottenstein in search of looted art: 'There are many caves there in which loot could be stored successfully. Our first investigation was fruitless but the local detachment is following up with a more thorough check'. The third part lists military personnel and the names of German personnel that have been dismissed, suspended or retained. The list of experts retained includes Dr Erik Berger, art historian, Dr Hans Burkard, director of the State Archives of Bavaria in Wuerzburg, Georg Elflein, inspector of the Residenz, Festung Marienberg and Schloss Veitshoechheim, Professor Kurt Gerstenberg, who was relieved due to his lack of administrative ability, and Professor Moebius, director of the Martin von Wagner Museum in the Alte Universitaet. Among those dismissed were Heiner Dickreiter, Curator of the Town Gallery, Wuerzburg, Dr Heinrich Enders of the State Library, Professor Josef Englert, Director of the City Cultural Office and Dr Max von Feeden, Curator, and Professor Clemens Schenk, Director, both of the Mainfraenkisches Museum. The fourth part of the report concerns the protected buildings of Wuerzburg and their contents. The Residenz, which suffered considerable war damage, was subjected to 'some looting' in the early period, prior to the boarding up of the central part of the ground floor which contained six store-rooms with 'various pieces of valuable furniture, two Tiepolo altar paintings from the Hofkircher, chandeliers, vases, bronze tapestries, porcelains and intarsia panels'. The cellars and rooms of the Festung Marienburg, containing 'paintings, tapestries, sculptures, furniture, rugs and other art objects, records of the Reichsfinanzministerium and other archives', were also locked up with the aim of carrying out an inventory at a later date to identify 'a certain amount of loot from France, Holland and other countries, which has been brought to the fortress by this office from various rural hiding places'. The report lists the works destroyed in the Wuerzburg cathedral and other important buildings, including the Neumunster church, the Marienkapelle, the Stift Haug church, the Alte Universitaet and the Juliusspital. The fifth part of the report describes damage caused to protected monuments immediately outside Wuerzburg, including Veitshoechheim, the summer residence of the bishops of Mainfranken, which mainly suffered damage to the statuary in the gardens as the result of bombing and vandalism. It also describes the use of a castle in Gaibach, owned by the Countess Schoenborn-Colonna, as a repository for works of art owned by nearby cities. A list of objects stored in the castle was attached to the original report but is not present in the piece. The report mentions that 'in Gaibach there was a certain amount of loot from France. The entire shipment of loot from Paris destined for the Nazi-Oberbuergermeister Brandis of Cologne was sent to three depots, one of which was Gaibach. The second was at the monastery at Bronnbach [this repository was inspected by Lt Parkhurst and Lt Skilton on July 14 1945] and the third at Kochendorf Salt-Mine near Heilbronn. On the 29th of May 1945 the loot stored at Gaibach, consisting of 7 boxes of furniture and 7 oriental and modern rug [sic] and one antique frame belonging to Ribbentrop, was removed to the Festung Marienberg in Wuerzburg. The only loot now remaining in Gaibach is a very large rug which was impossible to move because of its size and weight'. The final part of the report describes the state of monuments at Frickenhausen, Marktbreit and Dettelbach.