“Up to 15 July 1944 the following had been scientifically inventoried:
“21,903 Works of Art:
“5,281 paintings, pastels, water colors, drawings; 684 miniatures, glass and enamel paintings, illuminated books and manuscripts; 583 sculptures, terra cottas, medallions, and plaques; 2,477 articles of furniture of art historical value; 583 textiles (tapestries, rugs, embroideries, Coptic textiles); 5,825 objects of decorative art (porcelains, bronzes, faience, majolica, ceramics, jewelry, coins, art objects with precious stones); 1,286 East Asiatic art works (bronzes, sculpture, porcelains, paintings, folding screens, weapons); 259 art works of antiquity (sculptures, bronzes, vases, jewelry, bowls, engraved gems, terra cottas).”
The mere statement that 21,903 art works have been seized does not furnish an adequate conception of their value. I refer again to the statement in the document “The extraordinary artistic and intrinsic value of the seized art works cannot be expressed in figures,” and to the fact that they are objects of such a unique character that their evaluation is entirely impossible. These 39 volumes are by no means a complete catalogue. They present, at the most, pictures of about 2,500 of the art objects seized; and I ask you to imagine that this catalogue had been completed and that, in the place of 39 volumes, we had 350 to 400 volumes. In other words, if they were prepared in inventory form as these 39 volumes, to cover all of them it would take 350 to 400 volumes.
We had arranged, Your Honor, to project just a few of these on the screen; but before we do that, which is the end of this part of the presentation, I should like to call Your Honor’s attention to Document 015-PS. It is dated April 16, 1943. It is a copy of a letter from Rosenberg to Hitler. The occasion for the writing of this letter was the birthday of the Führer, to commemorate which, Rosenberg presented some folders of photographs of pictures seized by the Einsatzstab. And I imagine, although we have no authentic evidence, that probably some of these were prepared for that occasion. In the closing paragraph of the letter, Document 015-PS, Exhibit USA-387, he says:
“I beg of you, my Führer, to give me a chance during my next audience to report to you orally on the whole extent and state of this art-seizure action. I beg you to accept a short, written, preliminary report of the progress and extent of the art-seizure action, which will be used as a basis for this later oral report, and also to accept three volumes of the provisional picture catalogues which, too, show only a part of the collection at your disposal. I shall deliver further catalogues, which are now being compiled, as they are finished.”
Rosenberg then closes with this touching tribute to the aesthetic tastes of the Führer, tastes which were satisfied at the expense of a continent, and I quote:
“I shall take the liberty during the requested audience to give you, my Führer, another 20 folders of pictures with the hope that this short occupation with the beautiful things of art, which are so near to your heart, will send a ray of beauty and joy into your care-laden and revered life.”
THE PRESIDENT: Will you read all the passage that you began, five lines above that, beginning with the words, “These photos represent . . .”?
COL. STOREY: “These photos represent an addition to the collection of 53 of the most valuable objects of art delivered some time ago to your collection. This folder also gives only a weak impression of the exceptional value and extent of these objects of art, seized by my service command”—Dienststelle—“in France and put into a safe place in the Reich.”
If Your Honors please, at this time we would like to project on the screen a few of these photographs. The photographs of paintings which we are now about to project on the screen are taken from a single volume of the catalogue and are merely representative of the many volumes of pictures of similar works. The other items, photos of which are to be projected, were picked from various volumes on special subjects. For example, the Gobelin tapestry which you are about to see is merely one picture from an entire volume of tapestry illustrations. Each picture that you will see is representative of a number of volumes of similar pictures, and each volume from which these single pictures were taken represents approximately a tenth of the total number of volumes which would be necessary to illustrate all the items actually plundered by the Einsatzstab. We will now have the slides, just a few of them.
[Photographs were projected on the screen in the courtroom.]
This first picture is a “Portrait of a Woman,” painted by the Italian painter Palma Vecchio.
The next picture is a “Portrait of a Woman” by the Spanish painter Velasquez.
This picture is a “Portrait of Lady Spencer” by the English painter Sir Joshua Reynolds.
This picture is a painting by the French painter Watteau.
This is a painting of “The Three Graces” by Rubens.
This is a “Portrait of an Old Woman” by the famous painter Rembrandt.
This painting of a young woman is by the Dutch painter Van Dyck.
Now this picture is a sample of 16th century jewelry in gold and enamel, decorated with pearls.
This is a 17th century Gobelin tapestry.
This picture is of a Japanese painting from the catalogue volume on East Asiatic art.
This is an example of famous china.
This is a picture of a silver-inlaid Louis XIV cabinet.
The last picture is of a silver altarpiece of the 15th or 16th century, of Spanish origin.
I call to your attention again that each of the pictures you have just seen is merely representative of a large number of similar items illustrated in the 39-volume catalogue which is in itself only partially complete. There is little wonder that the Führer’s occupation with these beautiful things of art, which were nearest to his heart, should have sent a ray of beauty and joy into his revered life. I doubt that any museum in the world, whether the Metropolitan in New York, the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris, or the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow, could present such a catalogue as this; in fact, should they pool their treasures, the result would certainly fall short of the art collection that Germany amassed for itself, at the expense of the other nations of Europe. Never in history has a collection so great been amassed with so little scruple.
It is refreshing, however, to know that the victorious Allied armies have recovered most of such treasures, principally hidden away in salt mines, tunnels, and secluded castles; and the proper governmental agencies are now in the process of restoring these priceless works of art to their rightful owners.
I shall next refer to Document 154-PS, which is a letter dated the 5th of July 1942 from Dr. Lammers, Reich Minister and Chief of the Chancellery, to the highest Reich authorities and services directly subordinate to the Führer. This letter states and implements the Hitler order that was introduced in evidence and explains that the Führer delegated authority to Rosenberg’s staff to search for and seize cultural property by virtue of Reichsleiter Rosenberg’s position as representative of the Führer for the supervision of the whole ideological and political education of the NSDAP.
The Tribunal will recall, however, that it is by virtue of holding this office that Defendant Rosenberg occupied a place within the Reichsleitung, or Party Directorate of the Leadership Corps. That is Exhibit USA-370, and it is simply offered for the purpose of showing the address to the highest Reich authorities and services directly subordinate to the Führer.
In a letter to the Defendant Bormann, dated the 23rd of April 1941, the Defendant Rosenberg protested against the arbitrary removal by the SD and other public services of property from libraries, monasteries, and other institutions; and he proposed that, in the claims by the SD and his representative, the final regulation as to the confiscation should be made by the Gauleiter. This letter has been offered previously