Throughout history, the spoils of war have often included cultural treasures. Napoleon famously looted art from conquered nations. In World War II, the Nazis systematically plundered occupied Europe, seizing countless valuables. However, the Third Reich’s actions extended beyond mere theft, using art as a weapon to justify their racial ideology. Beginning in 1940, the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) meticulously looted occupied France, seeking to prove a fabricated “Judeo-Bolshevik conspiracy.”
The Ideological Roots of the ERR
Alfred Rosenberg, a key Nazi figure, laid the groundwork for this cultural plunder. In his 1930 book, The Myth of the Twentieth Century, Rosenberg asserted an unbridgeable divide between Aryan and Jewish “races,” claiming that Western cultural heritage belonged solely to ancient Germanic tribes. As the Nazis gained power, Rosenberg’s rhetoric positioned modern Germans as rightful heirs to this legacy.
Rosenberg’s appointment as “Commissioner of the Führer for the Supervision of the Entire Intellectual and Ideological Schooling and Training of the NSDAP” empowered him to transform his office into a vast cultural control network. He envisioned a Hochschule (university) to indoctrinate the Reich’s future leaders.
A key part of Rosenberg’s plan was to amass materials proving his “Judeo-Bolshevik conspiracy” theory, legitimizing Nazi racial policies. The Institut zur Erforschung der Judenfrage (Institute for Research on the Jewish Question), founded in 1940, became the vehicle for this ideological project. Germany’s invasion of France that year provided an unprecedented opportunity to seize cultural and scientific assets for both the Institute and the planned Hochschule.
Nazi Art Policy: Censorship, Condemnation, and Exploitation
Prior to World War II, the Nazi regime implemented a systematic campaign to suppress modern art movements. Key figures like Alfred Rosenberg, author of Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhundert (The Myth of the 20th Century), vehemently denounced movements such as Expressionism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Cubism, and Fauvism. In his view, and that of the party, they represented “degenerate” influences, corrupting the purity of German culture. This ideological opposition stemmed from the Nazi association of modern art with political liberalism, a worldview they saw as responsible for Germany’s World War I defeat.
In 1937, the Nazi regime sought to solidify its condemnation of modern art with the infamous Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition. This traveling exhibition sought to publicly denounce and ridicule works the regime deemed undesirable. Its goal was to portray the preceding era of artistic freedom as a period of cultural decline, positioning the Nazi ideology as a purifying force.
The exhibition, which opened in Munich on July 19th, attracted millions of visitors. It was strategically juxtaposed with the “Great German Art Exhibition” held the previous day, where Hitler unveiled works aligned with the regime’s traditional and racially-motivated artistic ideals.
Having purged so-called “degenerate art” from German institutions, the Nazis faced the task of disposing of the seized works. While Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering advocated for selling the most valuable pieces internationally to fund the state, many of the less marketable works were ultimately destroyed. In March 1939, a large quantity of these artworks were burned in an orchestrated display at the Berlin Fire Department.
The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR): Systematic Looting of French Libraries and Archives
In the wake of the German occupation of Paris on June 14, 1940, Nazi agencies embarked on a ruthless campaign to plunder libraries, archives, and private collections. This targeted campaign focused heavily on Jewish-owned materials. Agencies like the Gestapo seized assets from Jewish homes and businesses, while the Devisenschutzkommando confiscated valuables from Jewish bank vaults.
The ERR zeroed in on Jewish and Masonic libraries and archives. With Hitler’s authorization, they systematically looted manuscripts and documents from prominent Jewish collections in France (Alliance Israélite Universelle, École Rabbinique, and the Fédération des Sociétés Juives de France). The ERR’s actions resulted in the largest historical looting operation, with approximately 20 million documents stolen.
The ERR did not immediately seek to destroy seized books and documents. Instead, Rosenberg sought to exploit them, distributing them to Nazi research centers like the Central Library of the Hoch Schule in Berlin, and the Institute for Research of the Jewish Question. This exploitation aimed to use the products of Jewish culture as ideological weapons in the Reich’s anti-Semitic propaganda.
Though the Nazi regime aimed for the eradication of European Jews and their culture, Rosenberg and Hitler sought to preserve traces of Jewish intellectual life. Their plan sought to corrupt these materials for purposes of propaganda and the justification of their horrific ideology.
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The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) and the Systematic Art Plunder of France
Paris, a global hub of artistic activity, found itself vulnerable during World War II. Leading collectors, dealers, and artists – particularly those of Jewish heritage – fled the German invasion, often forced to abandon their valuable collections.
Germany’s seizure of artworks began under the guise of reclaiming pieces it believed France had illegitimately obtained from Germany, a rationale supported by Nazi propaganda. Art historians had previously cataloged coveted works for this purpose.
In the fall of 1940, the ERR, initially tasked with targeting institutions, shifted to seizing private Jewish art collections under Hermann Goering’s direction. The ERR amassed its loot at the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris.
The ERR meticulously cataloged the stolen works for eventual redistribution. French curator Rose Valland, while working at the Jeu de Paume, courageously documented the ERR operations, information that would prove crucial in post-war restitution efforts. Initial shipments traveled to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, and ultimately the most prized pieces were moved to the Austrian salt mines at Altaussee for secure storage.
High-ranking official Hermann Goering exploited his position to claim many of the finest works for his personal collection. Other coveted pieces were earmarked for Hitler’s planned Linz museum.
Those works branded “degenerate” were segregated at the Jeu de Paume. Valuable enough for trade or sale survived, while the remainder met their demise in the flames in July 1943.
Germany legitimized its plundering through the strategic revocation of citizenship for French nationals who had fled the country. Gerhard Utikal of the ERR offered a warped justification rooted in racist ideologies, claiming seizure was just compensation for Germany’s sacrifices and that Jewish wealth had been stolen from its rightful German owners.
ERR’s Systematic Plunder: The Möbel-Aktion
Beyond its infamous focus on art and archival theft, the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) conducted a widespread operation to pillage household belongings. The Möbel-Aktion (Furniture Operation), initiated in 1942 under Baron Kurt von Behr, systematically targeted the homes of Jewish families who had fled the Nazi regime.
From 1941 onward, the ERR ruthlessly stripped the residences of French Jews, seizing furniture, art, clothing, and even everyday objects. Choice items were marked with “M-A” codes at the Jeu de Paume repository, deliberately obscuring their ownership history. Victims faced the impossible task of reclaiming their property, requiring a “Certificate of Non-Jewishness” as proof of their fabricated Aryan status.
Furniture plundered in this campaign originally served to improve conditions for German officers on the Eastern Front. As the war turned, Allied advances prompted the redirection of stolen goods towards German citizens displaced by bombing. By August 1944, the ERR had looted a staggering 71,619 homes, forcibly shipping vast quantities of stolen property across Europe.
Nazi Plunder in the Occupied Soviet Union: The ERR and the Destruction of Cultural Heritage
The German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 saw the immediate mobilization of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) on the Eastern Front. Rosenberg’s organization, initially formed to target Western Europe, aimed to seize cultural and academic materials from Soviet institutions for use in anti-Bolshevik propaganda. The Communist regime’s nationalization of formerly private collections, particularly those of Jewish owners, facilitated the ERR’s plunder. This operation often placed the ERR in competition with the Ahnenerbe, an SS branch dedicated to dubious archaeological projects supporting claims of the Aryan master race.
The ERR’s approach in the East differed starkly from its operations in Western Europe. “In the West, our adversaries were specific Jewish organizations and Masonic lodges,” Rosenberg explained at the Nuremberg Trials. “In the East, it was the monolithic Communist Party.”
This fervent anti-Bolshevism, shared by Hitler, led to a destructive campaign. Hitler aimed to annihilate cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow, displacing Slavic populations to Siberia to create “Lebensraum” (living space) for the German people. Museums and the homes of renowned cultural figures like Tolstoy, Pushkin, and Chekhov were targeted throughout the Soviet Union.
As the tide of war turned, Germany began repatriating seized cultural treasures for “safekeeping.” In August 1944, ERR official Utikal ordered the evacuation of the “most precious cultural riches of the Ostland,” prioritizing these seizures even as military concerns mounted. Despite these efforts, the chaotic retreat resulted in the irrevocable loss of countless valuable artifacts.
In December 1945, American Colonel Robert G. Storey, addressing the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg trials, declared:
“[T]o obtain a full conception of the vastness of this looting program, it will be necessary to envision Europe as a treasure-house in which is stored the major portion of the artistic and literary product of two thousand years of Western civilization. It will further be necessary to envision the forcing of this treasure-house by a horde of vandals bent on systematically removing to the Reich these treasures, which are, in a sense, the heritage of all of us, to keep them there for the enjoyment and enlightenment of Germans alone.”
The International Military Tribunal sentenced Alfred Ronsengerb to death. The mastermind behind the ERR was hanged on October 16, 1946.
