NAZI “ART KORPS”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 January 1943, Page 6

NAZI “ART KORPS”

LONG-PLANNED LOOTING. GALLERIES OF EUROPE. The Nazi Foreign Minister, von Ribbentrop, has his own “Art Korps,” whose job is to rifle and dispose of Europe's art treasures, reports the “Sydney Daily Telegraph’s" London correspondent. This gang of thieves is known as "Ribbentrop's Own.” Members of the corps wear the uniform of the German Army, have ranks and insignia corresponding to those of the fighting forces, but are under the control of the German Foreign Office. The corps is organised into four battalions comprising experts in all fields of graphic arts. Its task is to comb the galleries, museums, libraries, and private collections in occupied countries. Treasures seized are carefully classified. The best are sent to Berlin, and “seconds” are disposed of through agents in neutral countries. A mass of evidence available in London disclosing the extent of this plundering is one of the reasons for the United Nations’ pledge to restore after the war all property stolen by the Axis. The London Daily Telegraph reports that facts now disclosed show that the Germans planned the looting of Europe’s art treasures 10 years ago. This evidence shows, it says, that the Nazis sent connoisseurs to the galleries of European capitals to make friends of the directors and curators and to list ‘their works of art. Pressure was brought to bear on private collectors who refused information to German agents. They found they were unable to negotiate payments on their bank accounts, because of “special scrutiny” by an international committee. x The evidence tells of a Dr Muller, a Nazi, and a supposed trusted friend of the curator of the Cracow (Poland) Museum, who, when the city fell to the Germans, arrived with a party of German soldiers to supervise the removal of works of art to Germany.