Catalogue description US Seventh Army Detachment field report for Hessen-Nassau for July 1945. The first part...

US Seventh Army Detachment field report for Hessen-Nassau for July 1945. The first part of the report, signed by the MFA and A specialist Samuel Ratensky, dated 2 August 1945, outlines the personnel of the section and provides information on German employees, most notably Dr Friedrich Bleibaum, who had been Provincial Conservator in Hessen-Nassau since 1919 and was therefore able to provide a great deal of information. Ratensky also notes the discovery of 2,200 uncrated paintings 'largely from the late 19th century, no contemporary, and of mediocre quality' at Schloss Lichtenfels. The operations of the MFA and A in this period are outlined, including their response to 'many reports of theft and damage by US troops of cultural objects' which were immediately referred to the Provost Marshal, XXIII Corps. It is mentioned that 'Lists of the content of Schloss Lichtenfels at Dalwigksthal were obtained and turned over to Major Williams, MFA and A Officer of Det [Detachment] E1C2'. The second part of the report, written by First Lieutenant Robert Wallach, dated 28 July 1945, contains information on the status of fine arts, archives and monuments in and around Marburg, particularly of churches. With regard to the collecting points and repositories it is mentioned that the Landesmuseum in Wiesbaden now contains part of the print collection of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum at Cologne. The third part of the report, signed by Captain Walter I Farmer, dated 31 July 1945, describes the activities of the MFA and A section in the area around Wiesbaden. Farmer notes that a repository of art works was found in a building at Romsthal [not specified] containing the collection of Dr Richard von Kuehlmann of Berlin, 'who was involved in the 20 July attempt on the life of Hitler', and provides a list of paintings including works by Zick and Raffeli, furniture, embroidery and porcelain. The fourth part of the report, signed by Captain James F Owens, dated 2 August 1945, describes the activities of the MFA and A section in the area around Kassel. It mentions the activities of Dr Bleibaum who had been the provincial curator of Hessen-Nassau and who provided a considerable amount of information and advice to the US Army. Appended to Owens' report is a list of the monuments inspected in the Kassel area with a summary of the date of inspection, their condition, contents, possible military use, the persons interviewed and the protection of the building and its contents. The fifth part of the report, signed by Lieutenant Colonel George E B Peddy, dated 7 August 1945, provides information on the removal of a number of works of art from the repositories at Castles Holdburg, Heldburg and Heubitsch in Thuringia to the 'castle and unfinished school building' in Mitwitz, Bavaria [reason not specified]. The items originating from Frankfurt include 23 boxes of archives from the Volkerkuende Museum in Frankfurt am Main, five boxes marked 'Volhard Privat', nine ten foot cylinders containing paintings [unspecified] and approximately 20,000 books from the city library. The items originating from Mainz include 60 cases of archives and circa 50 framed and unframed pictures and prints [unspecified]. Information on repairs is followed by a summary of the investigations made by the MFA and A to determine any other deposits that might require transfer for safekeeping. The sixth part of the report, signed by Second Lieutenant Robert Koch, dated 1 August 1945, consists of a summary of MFA and A activities in Baden and Wuerttemberg, including notes on personnel, inspections and removals, and summaries of information provided by Dr Musper of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and by Dr Fleischhauer of the Schlossmuseum, Stuttgart, on the contents of each museum's numerous repositories in several castles and salt mines. The report also mentions Dr Hoffmann [first name not provided] at the Landesbibliothek and Ministerialrat Rupp [first name not provided] acting as supervisors. Information from Dr Fleischhauer included details of looted art that was taken to German public collections during the war and on looting that occurred in the French zone of occupation. Works taken for German public collections include a bronze cannon of Frederick I of Wuerttemberg and some cases of weapons 'acquired' in 1941 from the Musee d'Artillerie in Paris. The cannon was now buried in Rosengarten, Neues Schloss, Stuttgart, and the weapons were stored in the repositories of Bebenhausen and Blaubeuren. [The following page of the report, number 38, may have contained more information on public collections but is missing]. With regard to looting in territories formerly occupied by the French, Fleischhauer claimed that 'Schloss Unterreixingen [...] was completely stripped of private property including family portraits' and 'Schloss Wilhelma in Stuttgart was looted of several woven tapestries [from the first half of the nineteenth century] which belong to the Schlossmuseum, Stuttgart. No details available'. The seventh part of the report consists of a translation of Dr Mayer's notes of visits to repositories in the French zone of occupation, including Riedlingen, Wilflingen, Unlingen, Mundlingen, Kirchen, Oberstadion, Grundsheim, Buchau, Oggelshausen, Biberach, Waldsee, Steinhausen, Ochsenhausen, Reinstetten and Huerbel. The eighth and final part of the report, signed by Major Yuill, dated 31 July 1945, contains information on inspections and removal requests in and around Regensburg, which were relatively few due to the limited extent of war damage.

Collecting Point report from Munich for June 1945, signed by Lieutenant Craig Hugh Smyth, dated 28 July 1945. The report describes the transformation of the two buildings known as the 'Verwaltungsbau' and the 'Fuehrerbau' into 'a long-term repository and cataloguing center', and provides information on the acquisition of the repository, its present status, the evacuation of former occupants, the security of the building, the renaming of the repository buildings as 'Gallery I' and 'Gallery II', the status of employees and other administrative matters.

Collecting Point report from Marburg for July 1945, signed by Captain Walter K Hancock, dated 30 July 1945. The report contains details of the two collecting points at Marburg [the Staatsarchiv and the Kunsthistorisches Museum] with information on the repositories assembled in each, their contents and the origins of their contents, eg Eisleben [repository], Reichspost Collection [contents] and Berlin [source]. The report concludes with further information on the conditions of buildings, staff and the planned production of a photographic record.