Authors: Robert M. Edsel
Tags: #Arts & Photography, #History & Criticism, #History, #Military, #World War II, #Politics & Social Sciences, #Politics & Government, #International & World Politics, #European, #Public Affairs & Policy, #Cultural Policy, #Social Sciences, #Museum Studies & Museology, #Art, #Art History, #Schools; Periods & Styles, #HIS027100
19
. Ibid.
20
. Stout journal, April 17, 1945, roll 1378, Stout Papers.
21
. Kirstein, “The Mine at Merkers.”
22
. Stout to Margie, April 19, 1945, roll 1421, Stout Papers.
23
. Posey to Alice, April 20, 1945, Posey Papers.
Chapter 37: Salt
1
. Photograph, Posey Papers. The word
stürtzen
was misspelled on the crate;
stürzen
would be the correct spelling.
2
. Ambrose,
Eisenhower
, 392.
3
. Ibid., 391.
4
. Hobbs,
Dear General
, 223.
5
. Ambrose,
Eisenhower
, 400.
6
. Hirshon,
General Patton
, 628.
7
. Ambrose,
Eisenhower
, 393.
Chapter 38: Horror
1
. Hancock to Saima, April 9, 1945, Hancock Papers.
2
. Hancock to Saima, April 12, 1945, Hancock Papers.
3
. Hancock,
A Sculptor’s Fortunes
, 157.
4
. Ibid., 158.
5
. Hancock to Saima, April 20, 1945, Hancock Papers.
6
. Hancock to Saima, April 15, 1945, Hancock Papers.
7
. Kirstein to Goosie, April 20, 1945, box 2-24, MGZMD 97, Kirstein Papers.
8
. Ibid.
9
. Kirstein to Miss Marshall, April 24, 1945, box 8-90, MGZMD 123, Kirstein Papers.
Chapter 39: The Gauleiter
1
. Pöchmüller,
Welt-Kunstschätze in Gefahr
, 57.
2
. Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
, 100.
3
. Pöchmüller,
Welt-Kunstschätze in Gefahr
, 58.
Chapter 40: The Battered Mine
The details of the scene at Heilbronn are drawn from Rorimer,
Survival
, 135–143.
1
. Rorimer,
Survival
, 137.
2
. Rorimer letter, April 25, 1945, Rorimer Papers.
Chapter 41: Last Birthday
1
. Joachimsthaler,
The Last Days of Hitler
, 105–106.
2
. Ibid., 97.
3
. Wheelock, ed.,
Johannes Vermeer
, 168.
Chapter 42: Plans
1
. Stout journal, May 1, 1945, Stout Papers.
2
. Pöchmüller,
Welt-Kunstschätze in Gefahr
, 68.
3
. Rorimer,
Survival
, 160–161.
Chapter 43: The Noose
The details on Hitler’s will writing, marriage, and suicide are drawn from Joachimsthaler,
The Last Days of Hitler
, 128–130.
1
. Adolf Hitler, “Last Will and Testament,” April 30, 1945, RG 238 Entry 1 NM—66, U.S. Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Box 189, F: 3569—PS, NARA.
2
. Hitler dictated a “political testament” and a “private will” on April 29, 1945. The following day he committed suicide. At least three, but probably four, copies were signed and witnessed. Three copies were dispatched from the underground shelter in the Reichschancellery after Hitler’s death; the top copy to Grand Admiral Dönitz (courier Zander); another (without the “private will”) to Field Marshal Schörner (courier Johannmayer); and the third to the Nazi Party archives in Munich (courier Lorenz). None of the three couriers carrying these documents reached their destination, and the testaments and wills were later discovered in different hiding places. The set intended for Dönitz is now in the National Archives in College Park, Md. and the others are held by the Imperial War Museum in London. It is possible that Bormann carried the third “private will” with him when he left the bunker on the evening of May 1, 1945. It seems that a fourth set was likely handed over to the Soviet lieutenant general Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov during German general Hans Krebs’s fruitless cease-fire negotiations on May 1, 1945. It is unlikely that Hitler intended a fourth copy to be transmitted to the Russians. This was most probably a maneuver arranged by Goebbels and Bormann during the evening of April 30, 1945. Depending on whether Hitler’s signature on the fourth set can be determined as fake, he would either not have known of this fourth set (all witnesses would have still been in the bunker, though, to sign themselves and Bormann or Göbbels could have arranged that Frau Junge had slipped a fourth carbon in the typewriter), or it could have been that the fourth set was intended to be for Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring, who on April 29, 1945, was still involved in an independent surrender to the Allies in Italy and yet retained Hitler’s confidence. There is no evidence that at the time when Hitler was making his will he had withdrawn his confidence in Kesselring. Therefore Kesselring as a potential recipient of a fourth set of “political testament” and “private will” is not improbable.
3
. Högler,
Bericht über die Verhinderung der von Gauleiter Eigruber geplanten Vernichtung der Kunstschätze im Salzbergwerk Altaussee
, 30 December 1945, Archiv Linz, Sch 0018, Högler Papers, 4.
4
. Ibid.
5
. Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
, 115.
6
. Interview with Robert Posey, 2008.
7
. Posey to Alice, April 18, 1945, Posey Papers.
Chapter 44: Discoveries
1
. The details on the coffins in Bernterode are drawn from Hancock,
A Sculptor’s Fortunes
, 159–160.
2
. Ibid., 160.
3
. Rorimer,
Survival
, 181–182.
Chapter 45: The Noose Tightens
1
. Davidson,
The Trial of the Germans
, 439.
2
. Rayssac,
L’Exode des Musées
, 758–760, 803.
Chapter 46: The Race
The details of the capture of Berchtesgaden are drawn from McManus, “The Last Great Prize,” 51–56.
1
. Rorimer,
Survival
, 183.
2
. Ibid., 185.
Chapter 47: Final Days
1
. The details on Berlin’s flaktowers are drawn from Akinsha and Kozlov,
Beautiful Loot
, 52–95.
2
. Bernard Taper, “Investigating Art Looting for the MFAA,” in Simpson, ed.,
Spoils of War
, 137.
3
. Posey to Alice, May 2, 1945, Posey Papers.
4
. Kirstein, “Quest for the Golden Lamb,” 183.
5
. Kirstein to Grooslie, May 6, 1945, box 2-25, MGZMD 97, Kirstein Papers.
6
. Ibid.
Chapter 48: The Translator
This material in this chapter draws on the author’s interview with Harry Ettlinger, 2008, and Ettlinger, “Ein Amerikaner.”
Chapter 49: The Sound of Music
1
. Hancock, “Experiences of a Monuments Officer in Germany,” 299.
2
. Hancock to Saima, May 4, 1945, Hancock Papers.
3
. Hancock to Saima, undated letter #151, Hancock Papers.
4
. Hancock to Saima, undated letter #150, Hancock Papers.
Chapter 50: End of the Road
1
. Kirstein, “Quest for the Golden Lamb,” 184.
Section V
The epigraphs to this section are drawn from Balfour, “Draft Lecture,” 9, Balfour Papers; and Fasola,
The Florence Galleries and the War
, 75.
Chapter 51: Understanding Altaussee
1
. Interview with S. Lane Faison Jr., courtesy of Actual Films.
2
. Pöchmüller,
Welt-Kunstschätze in Gefahr
, 57–59.
3
. Kirstein, “Quest for the Golden Lamb,” 184.
4
. Ibid., 185.
5
. Freiheitskämpfer von Altaussee,
Bericht über die Aktion zur Rettung und Sicherstellung der im Salzbergwerk verlagerten Wert- und Kunst-gegenständen Europas in den April- und ersten Maitagen des Jahres 1945
, February 1948, Archiv Linz, Sch 0042–0046, Michel Papers.
6
. Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
, 231–238.
7
. Plieseis, Letter to the Editor of the Magazine “Neuer Mahnruf,” 27 October 1960, Kubin Estate, Linz Archive.
8
. Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
, 211–225.
9
. Michel,
Bergungmassnahmen und Widerstandsbewegung
, Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien, 56. Band, 1948. AuW, NHM, 3–6.
10
. Riedl-Dorn,
Das Haus der Wunder
, 220.
11
. Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
, 196.
12
. Michel,
Bericht über die ereignisreiche und denkwürdige Bewahrung unschätzbarer Kunstwerke in den Salzberg-Anlagen in Alt Aussee vor nazistischer Zertörung durch die Eigruber-Bande-
, undated report, Archiv Linz, Sch 0042–0046, Michel Papers.
13
. Roll 1421, Stout Papers.
14
. Kirstein to Goosie, May 13, 1945, box 13–-206, MGZMD 97, Kirstein Papers.
15
. Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
, 99.
16
. Pöchmüller,
Welt-Kunstschätze in Gefahr
, 58.
17
. Ibid., 51.
18
. Ibid., 68.
19
. Sieber,
Bericht über die Verlagerung von Gemälden innerhalb des Salzberges
, Altaussee, 12 May 1945, DÖW 3296a/b.
20
. Högler,
Bericht über die Verhinderung der von Gauleiter Eigruber geplanten Vernichtung der Kunstschätze im Salzbergwerk Altaussee
, Archiv Linz, Sch 0018, Högler Papers, 11.
21
. Ibid., 12.
22
. Pöchmüller,
Welt-Kunstschätze in Gefahr
, 82–83.
23
. Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
, 128.
24
. Ibid., 85.
Chapter 52: Evacuation
1
. Kirstein, “Quest for the Golden Lamb,” 184.
2
. Ibid., 186.
3
. Howe,
Salt Mines and Castles
, 183.
4
. Kirstein to Grooslie, May 22, 1945, box 13-206, MGZMD 97, Kirstein Papers.
5
. Eder,
Zusammenfassung der mir bekannten Einlagerungen im Salzbergwerk Altaussee
, DÖW 10610, 4.
6
. Kirstein, “Quest for the Golden Lamb,” 190.
7
. Stout journal, July 3, 1945, Stout Papers.
8
. Howe,
Salt Mines and Castles
, 159.
9
. Ibid.
10
. Ibid.
11
. Nicholas,
The Rape of Europa
, 373.
The letter on pp. 388–390 is from the Rorimer Papers.
Chapter 53: The Journey Home
The details on Harry Ettlinger and Heilbronn are draw from the author’s interview with Harry Ettlinger, 2008, and Ettlinger, “Ein Amerikaner.”
1
. Interview with Harry Ettlinger, courtesy of Actual Films.
Chapter 54: Heroes of Civilization
1
. Goldensohn,
Nuremberg Interviews
, 132.
2
. Ibid., 129.
3
. Ibid., 128.
4
. Bernard Taper, “Investigating Art Looting for the MFAA,” in Simpson, ed.,
Spoils of War
, 138.
5
. Rayssac,
L’Exode des Musées
, 955.
6
. Rorimer,
Survival
, 187.
7
. Valland to Rorimer, June 25, 1957, Rorimer Papers, NGA.
8
. Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
, 189–191.
9
. Ibid., 191–192.
10
. Ibid., 193–194.
11
. Ibid., 172–189.
12
. Michel, Letter to the Bundesministerium für Unterricht, 1947, Archiv Linz, Sch 0042–0046, Michel Papers.
13
. Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
, 175.
14
. Ibid., 194.
15
. Michel,
Bergungsmassnahmen und Widerstandsbewegung
, Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien, 56. Band, 1948. AuW, NHM, 3–6.
16
. Kubin,
Sonderauftrag Linz
, 195–204.
17
. Rayssac,
L’Exode des Musées
, 847.
18
. Chamson, “In Memoriam, Jacques Jaujard,” 152.
19
. “A l’Institut: Gaston Palewski fait l’éloge d’un grand défenseur des Beaux-Arts Jacques Jaujard,”
Le Figaro
, November 21, 1968.
20
. “Albert Henraux (1881–1953),” p. XXII, Archives des Musées Nationaux.
21
. Valland,
Le Front de l’Art
, 221.
22
. Rose Valland note, February 1944, R32-1, Archives des Musées Nationaux.
23
. Jacques Jaujard, “Activités dans la Résistance de Mademoiselle Rose Valland Conservateur des Musées Nationaux,” R32-1, Archives des Musées Nationaux.
24
. Rayssac,
L’Exode des Musées
, 850.
25
. Ibid.
26
. Kirstein to Goosie, April 20, 1945, box 2-24, MGZMD 97, Kirstein Papers.
27
. Kirstein letter to Stout, March 16, 1947, Stout Papers.
28
. See wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirstein.
29
. Hancock,
A Sculptor’s Fortunes
, vii.
30
. “1,000 Pay Tribute at Rorimer Rites,”
New York Times
, May 17, 1966.