Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas
(The Roberts Commission), 1943–1946 (RG 239)

Reports, 1944–1946 (Entry 6)

Folders: Censorship, Office of: CI (Confidential Reports) 1–191

British Censorship Reports regarding looted assets, 1942–1943 (8 pp.). References to art work, assets in Austria, Swiss art dealer Fischer, art works in Switzerland, Venezuelan endeavoring to bring pictures from Germany, art possibly in Spain, and an impending visit to London by Mrs. Irma Lindheimer, identified as “one of the outstanding women in American Jewish life.” The addressee in the latter intercept, who resided in Lisbon, Portugal, is identified as “a trafficker in visas, works of art and in the dispatch of food parcels to internment camps.”

Folder: Miscellaneous

Enclosures 1 and 2 to dispatch No. 19,750 of December 8, 1944, from the Embassy at London, England, regarding Alois Miedel [Miedl] (3 pp.) References to Miedl having in Spain paintings by Cezanne, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Rubens, Jan Steen, and Cranach. Also information about Miedl's activities in the Netherlands and dealings with Göring.

Correspondence, 1943–1946 (Entry 7)

Folder: “K” Miscellaneous

Censorship Intercept Report on Dr. Nicholas Koenigsberg, art dealer in New York City and Argentina, January 6, 1945 (2 pp.). References to his business dealings, including those in Chile and Mexico.

London Files, 1943–1945 (Entry 12)

Folder: Cables

British Ministry of Economic Warfare Report on Aloys [Alois] Miedl, December 29, 1944. A source reported that he had handled stolen jewelry from Amsterdam and that he was traveling in late November 1944 back and forth from San Sebastian and Madrid, Spain (2 pp.).

British Ministry of Economic Warfare Report on the smuggling of antique porcelain and china into Spain from France by Pierre Lottier, December 6, 1944 (2 pp.).

Subject File, 1940–1946 (Entry 73)

Folder: Hoffman, Heinrich

Memo from J.S. Plaut, Director, Art Unit, OSS to Lt. Col. Ernest T. De Wald, Director, MFAA S/C, AC regarding the investigation of German looting and removal of Italian art properties, and coordination of operations, April 28, 1945 (1 p.).

Folder: Italy: Looting

Memo from James S. Plaut, Director, Art Unit, X-2 Branch to Lt. James Angleton, CO, SCI/Z, Rome, regarding Dr. Albertina Crico, April 27, 1945 (2 pp.). Desire by Plaut to recruit Dr. Crico for three months to work for the OSS and with the MFAA Sub-Commission, AC, Italy, to help investigate the flow of art properties from Central to Northern Italy.

Folder: Knox, Henry H.

Memo from SAINT, Stockholm to SAINT, London, regarding art objects confiscated by the Nazis in Germany and occupied countries, August 23, 1945 (3 pp.). Memo identifies Alfred Anderson, a Swedish national, as a great current and future source of information on looted art objects. Attached is 18 pp. of information regarding “objects of art which were confiscated by the Nazis in Holland, together with photographs [not attached] and descriptive data of each individual painting or work of art.”

Memo from SAINT, Stockholm to SAINT, Washington, regarding the Reichskulturkammer [Reich Chamber of Culture], August 22, 1945 (3 pp.). Listed are 62 individuals associated with the organization that was established by Goebbels to “affect the public opinion and to alter and educate in accordance with the lines of the Propaganda Department.”

Folder: Miedl, Alois

Memo from Jan F. Libich to Gardiner S. Pratt regarding Gerhard Fritze, October 18, 1945 (1 p.). Fritze was seen as a source of information regarding I.G. Farben holdings in the Netherlands.

Memo from Jan F. Libich to Gardiner S. Pratt regarding Dr. von Saher, October 18, 1945 (2 pp.). Von Saher was seen as a possible source of information on Arpad Plesch and I.G. Farben cloaking its interest in I.G. Chemie. Libich noted “that a good many German refugees here [New York City] are loath to give any information regarding business deals they were forced into by German industrialists, as they feel that British and American policy points to a reinstatement of these industrialists to their former important positions, and they do not wish to jeopardize any future relations with them.”

Memo from SAINT, BB/O52 to SAINT, Germany, October 22, 1945, regarding Alois Miedl (2 pp.). Request that Lt. Rousseau [with the OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit] interrogate Miedl when Miedl is returned to Germany. Biographical information regarding Miedl is also provided.

Memo from SAINT, Madrid to SAINT, Washington and London, regarding looted paintings at the Free Port of Bilbao, Spain, February 15, 1945 (5 pp.). Paintings, which are listed on four pages, were consigned to Ramon Talasac, who at that point was on the British Statutory List for having acted as a cloak for German concerns. The list, which is in Spanish, and which gives the dimensions and other related information, indicates that some of the art work had come from the Goudstikker Collection.

Folder: Mohnen, Wilhelm Jakob

CSDIC Interrogation Report on Wilhelm Mohnen, April 30, 1945, Copy No. 21 (24 pp.). Mohnen, owner of a cycle and motor cycle business in Mannheim, Germany, was involved with the Abwehr in France in 1941, investigated by the Gestapo for business malpractices, and went to Rome and the Vatican in early 1942. Was involved in art transactions with Dr. Lohse and came in contact with others involved in the art trade, including Heinrich Hoffman. He also did some work for the SD to obtain information in Rome. He was also instructed by the German foreign office in January 1943 to arrange for “direct Papal intervention in favour of peace by means of a direct appeal to Germany in his next public speech which would probably be at Easter.” References to Kappler, the Vatican, SS General Wolff, and selling of art work. Pages 18–24 of the report contains the names and positions of personalities mentioned in the report.

Folder: Personalities: Miscellaneous

Letter from Charles H. Sawyer to Alfred Frankfurter of the Art News in New York City, March 22, 1945 (1 p.). Request for any information on “our Celtic friend.”

Folder: PW [Prisoner of War] Papers (CSDIC)

Memo from S. L. Faison, Jr., OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit to Chief, X-2 London, regarding Hans Helmut von Hummel, secretary to Martin Borman, October 11, 1945 (3 pp.). Enclosed is an interrogation summary of Karl Kluge, chauffeur to Dr. Leopold Ruprecht, head of the Linz armor collection. References to gold coins; Gerhard Utikal, Berlin head of the Einsatzstab Rosenberg (ERR); and Dr. Schedelmann, art dealer in Vienna, Austria. Two memos from Charles H. Sawyer regarding copies of CSDIC PW interrogation reports in which he had an interest, April–May 1945 (2 pp.).

Memo from Thomas W. Dunn to Charles Sawyer, April 4, 1945, attaching two CSDIC PW Papers, Number 27 (14 pp.), “Treatment of Works of Art in Germany” and Number 28 (9 pp.), “Treatment of Works of Art in Occupied Territory.” The former report contains sections on The Wehrmacht, The Nazi Party, Private Agencies (Hitler and Göring), Unclassified Removal of Works of Art (Rothschild Property, Incident in Poland, and Dealers), and Personalities. The latter report contains information on Jewish Art, Degenerate Art, Hitler, Göring, the Gestapo, and other topics. Included is a listing of personalities concerned with art in Germany.