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Transferred to T 2/209
Catalogue reference: IND 1/12652
Transferred to T 2/209
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Detailed Interrogation Report No 12 by the Art Looting Investigation Unit of the...
Catalogue reference: T 209/29/7
What’s it about?
This record is about the Detailed Interrogation Report No 12 by the Art Looting Investigation Unit of the... dating from 1945 in the series British Committee on the Preservation and Restitution of Works of Art, Archives and.... It is held at The National Archives, Kew.
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Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- T 209/29/7
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Date (When the record was created)
- 1945
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Description (What the record is about)
- <p>Detailed Interrogation Report No 12 by the Art Looting Investigation Unit of the OSS on Hermann Voss, divided into ten sections, dated 15 September 1945. </p> <p>Part I provides an overview of Voss's personal life, education and career between 1922 and 1933, first at the Kunsthistorisches Institut Florence and then at the Kaiser Friedrich Museum Berlin. Late in 1933, the previous director, Dr Friedlaender, having been 'ousted on racial grounds', Voss 'lost the directorship of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum' because of his 'difficulties with the Nazi Party' caused by his 'cosmopolitan and democratic tendencies, and friendship with many Jewish colleagues'. Voss subsequently tried unsuccessfully to find a position in England. In 1935 he became director of the small local museum of Wiesbaden, regarded as 'a politically inspired demotion, and in no sense a reflection of his competence as a scholar or museum director'. During his years at Wiesbaden he 'built up a collection of German 19th Century painting which became known for its completeness and quality'. In March 1943 he was appointed Director of the Dresden Gallery and at the same time Dr Posse's successor as Sonderbeauftragter [Special Commissioner] for the Linz Museum. </p> <p>Part II describes Voss's political attitude before 1943 in detail, stating that 'Voss represents himself as a person of strong anti-Nazi sympathies who accepted the Linz position only with the idea of saving the pictures and handing them over, intact and inventorized, to the Allies, who he felt certain would win the war. Voss' case therefore rests on his demonstrating, first, his anti-Nazi ideals up to March 1943, when he accepted the Linz position; and second, an unchanged attitude thereafter' [...] 'There seems no reason to doubt Voss' status prior to March 1943. [...] He had already established a secure reputation as a scholar and museum curator but his anti-Nazi opinions were well known'. </p> <p>Part III provides an overview of Voss's apparently sketchy knowledge of Linz acquisitions and of the ERR before March 1943 as referred to him by Oertel, Posse's assistant, and Goepel, Posse's chief agent in Holland. </p> <p>Part IV describes in detail the events around Voss' appointment as Special Commissioner for Linz, Haberstock's animosity towards him and Posse's wish that Voss should succeed him. Kajetan Hoffman and Alois Miedl both explained Hitler's choice of Voss as due to Hoffman's influence, in light of 'the well known enmity between Voss and Haberstock'. </p> <p>Part V comprises a detailed description of Voss's activities for the Linz Museum, with particular reference to the choice of repositories to protect the Linz pictures, his control of Linz affairs, in particular of the acquisitions which were mostly 'centralized [...] in Dresden', his relations with Nazi officials, with the ERR and with Walter Andreas Hofer. </p> <p>Part VI lists all purchases made by Voss for Dresden and Wiesbaden between 1943 and 1945, which were mostly by 19th century German painters. </p> <p>Part VII offers a detailed description of the Schloss affair, when 'some 250 pictures from the Schloss Collection [French Jewish] were acquired by purchase for Linz under questionable circumstances'. </p> <p>Part VII describes Voss's activities after the end of the war, in particular with reference to the Weesenstein art repository and to his decision to return from the Soviet Zone of Occupation, where he had been left in charge of the Dresden Gallery, to the American Zone where he was promptly arrested. </p> <p>Parts IX and X provide a summary of Voss's role and a recommendation for his deployment at the Central Collecting Point in Munich prior to his being put on trial as a war criminal. </p> <p>Includes four attachments. Attachment 1 reproduces a four-verse poem written by Voss in August/September 1940 to deplore the German conquest of Paris. Attachment 2 provides a statement by Voss on the sequence of events that led to his appointment as Sonderbeauftragter for the Linz Museum, from the first phone call from Goebbels' office to Voss's acceptance. Attachment 3 comprises a letter to art dealer Hofer referring to Hitler in positive terms and expressing Voss's relief at learning that Hofer had survived a recent air raid on Berlin, dated December 1943. Attachment 4 includes - [yes, it obviously is very detailed but I unfortunately could not include everything] a statement by Voss on his activities between May and August 1945. </p> <p>Detailed Interrogation Report No 1 by the Art Looting Investigation Unit of the OSS on Heinrich Hoffmann divided into seven sections, dated 1 July 1945. </p> <p>Parts I and II include an introduction, noting that Hoffmann had been interrogated at Alt Aussee in June 1945, and an overview of Hoffmann's personal life and lucrative career as Hitler's photographer, director of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst in Munich and owner of the magazine <emph render="italic">Kunst dem Volk</emph>. </p> <p>Part III focuses on Hoffmann's relationship with Hitler, both as one of the Fuehrer's 'earliest companions' and a member of the NSDAP since 1922, and as Hitler's adviser in art matters, in which capacity he bought paintings on the Fuehrer's behalf and 'also sometimes did a little picture dealing on the side for his own profit'. </p> <p>Part IV provides a detailed description of the development of the Linz project from its inception in 1938, its personnel, funds, methods of acquisition and the dealers involved in it, in particular the Brueschwiller [Brueschwiler] brothers, Frau Maria [Almas] Dietrich, Karl Haberstock, Frau Michles, the Luz Gallery in Berlin and the Miedl-Goudstikker firm in Amsterdam. Part V describes Hitler's relationship with the ERR and the acquisition of several paintings confiscated by the ERR for the Linz Museum. </p> <p>Part VI lists nine depositories where Hoffmann's collection, which included important examples of the German School and some French 18th century pictures, was kept. </p> <p>Part VII contains recommendations for Hoffmann's future deployment and concludes that 'the importance of Hoffmann's role in the formation of the Linz Collection has been much exaggerated. During his early period he was close to Hitler who unquestionably listened to him. However, his advice concerned chiefly German XIX Century pictures; and his prestige, already undermined by the purchase of fake Spitzwegs, disappeared almost completely through Bormann's influence. [...] Hoffmann emerges as a parasite of the Nazi regime. His only usefulness to the present investigation is to identify the works of art which he acquired in occupied countries. It is recommended that he be put at the disposition of G-5, MFA and A for this purpose'. </p>
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- English
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Closure status (Whether the record is ‘open’ (available to the public) or ‘closed’ (not available due to a legal exemption))
- Open Document, Open Description
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C11645683/
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T 209
British Committee on the Preservation and Restitution of Works of Art, Archives and...
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Detailed Interrogation Report No 12 by the Art Looting Investigation Unit of the...
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