USA: Catalog documenting artwork looted by the Nazis during World War II is presented to the National Archives in Washington
- 00:01:13
- ITN Source
USA: Catalog documenting artwork looted by the Nazis during World War II is presented to the National Archives in Washington
A catalogue of looted art work compiled by the Nazis so that Adolf Hitler could select the choicest items for his personal collection has been donated to the U.S. National Archives. An catalog described as "the smoking gun" which documents Nazi Germany's looting of artwork and other treasures has been donated to the U.S. National Archives. The catalog was in the possession of the heirs of an American soldier who was stationed in the Berchtesgaden area of Germany in the closing days of World War II. The manuscript which they donated to the U.S. National Archives on Thursday (November 01, 2007) was one of 39 such portfolios created by the Third Reich to catalog artwork that was looted from private citizens, churches and museums. After the war, the catalogs were discovered April 1945 at Neuschwanstein, where the Nazis hid them for safekeeping. The 39 albums were used as evidence at the Nuremberg trials to represent the large scale of Nazi art looting. "This material is one of the most significant finds related to Hitler's premeditated theft of art and other cultural treasures to be found since the Nuremberg trials," said Allen Weinstein, the U.S. archivist. "It is exciting to know that original documents shedding light on this important aspect of World War II are still being located, especially so because the hundreds of thousands of still missing cultural items stolen from victims of Hitler and the Nazis." Catalogs containing photographs of the most precious items seized from victims of the Nazis were presented to Adolph Hitler to document the effectiveness of the looting operation and to allow him to view the catalogs and select works of art that he wanted for his personal collection. "I'm not familiar with any other documents of this particular importance in particular where we can put it directly in contact with Adolph Hitler, this is, as I said a smoking gun," said Robert Edsel, the president of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, who worked with the donor family to secure their catalog for the National Archives.
ITN Source | November 5, 2007
