Priya Kapoor
The Nazis plundered countless artworks and cultural objects from across Europe, including from Russia. At the end of World War II, the Red Army removed these objects from eastern Germany, and they have since been held in museums and galleries across Russia, with some even being displayed publicly. While Russia has returned some artworks to the government of East Germany, it has refused to return any to Germany, claiming that the loot is rightful compensation for the destruction caused by the Nazis. Germany, on the other hand, argues that Russia is in breach of international law by keeping these treasures.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of artworks looted by the Nazis | 1 million+ |
| Number of artworks looted by the Red Army from Germany | 1 million+ |
| Number of artworks returned by the USSR to the GDR | 1.5 million |
| Number of artworks returned by the USSR to the GDR in 1958-59 | Numerous famous paintings |
| Number of artworks returned by the USSR to the GDR in 1955 | 1 |
| Number of artworks to be traded between Russia and Germany in 2017 | 101 |
| Number of artworks held in Moscow and St Petersburg 60+ years after the war | 1 million+ |
| Number of museums damaged by the Nazis in the USSR | 427 |
| Number of museums pillaged or burned by the Nazis in the USSR | 30 |
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What You'll Learn
Russia's ban on returning looted art to Germany
Russia and Germany have been disputing the rightful ownership of the vast collections of art and cultural objects looted first by the Germans across Nazi-occupied Europe and then by the Red Army when the Russians sacked eastern Germany at the end of the Second World War. The basements of museums and galleries across Russia remain filled with the looted art, estimated by German officials at more than 1 million works of art and 2 million books and other objects taken from Germany.
In 1992, after the Soviet Union disintegrated, the German and Russian governments made an agreement on cultural cooperation, but the Russians later reneged on most of the agreement. In 1997, an alliance of nationalists and Communists in the Duma, or Russian Parliament, passed legislation indefinitely banning the return of Germany’s art to Germany.
In 2017, Russia lifted its blanket ban on returning thousands of precious works of art looted at the end of the Second World War. However, Germany was exempted from the list of potential beneficiaries. Moscow insists that the German loot rightfully belongs to Russia as compensation for the destruction caused by the Nazis. Berlin argues that Russia is in breach of international law by keeping the treasure.
Despite the continuing ban on returning war booty to Germany, Russia and Germany agreed to trade 101 drawings and paintings for a fragment of the legendary 18th-century Amber Room, which disappeared from a St Petersburg palace in 1945. The pictures, currently under guard at the German embassy in Moscow, include works by Albrecht Dürer and Toulouse-Lautrec originally in the collection of the Bremen Kunsthalle in northern Germany.
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Nazi plunder and the ERR
Nazi plunder, or Raubkunst, refers to the organised stealing of art and other items during the Nazi Party's rule in Germany. This included the looting of Jewish property in Germany from 1933 and the plundering of occupied countries during World War II. The Nazis stole gold, silver, currency, and cultural items such as paintings, ceramics, books, and religious treasures. One of the main agencies engaged in this plunder was the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), a "Special Task Force" headed by Adolf Hitler's leading ideologue, Alfred Rosenberg.
The ERR, established by Hermann Göring and directed by Rosenberg, was the official Nazi office charged with confiscating prominent, mainly Jewish, art collections in the western Nazi-occupied territories. The organisation seized 21,903 art objects from German-occupied countries, including 10,800 paintings and other pictures, 580 sculptures, 2,400 furniture pieces, 5,800 objets d'art, and more than 1,200 Asiatic articles. The ERR had about 10 different repositories for storing the looted art, including salt mines and caves that offered appropriate humidity and temperature conditions. One of the most prominent repositories was located in Neuschwanstein, Germany, where the "cream of the crop" of French plunder was kept.
Bruno Lohse, an art historian and art dealer, played a significant role in the ERR's operations. He was appointed by Göring as his liaison officer and deputy leader of the ERR in March 1941. Lohse curated 20 expositions of newly looted art objects at the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris, from which Göring selected at least 594 pieces for his personal collection. Göring also commanded that the loot be divided between himself and Hitler, with the remaining items made available to other Nazi leaders.
After World War II, original ERR documents were widely dispersed and are now held in over 40 repositories in 10 countries. Many of the artworks looted by the Nazis were recovered by the Allies' Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA), but many others are still missing or were returned to countries but not their original owners.
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The Amber Room
During World War II, the Amber Room was looted by the Army Group North of Nazi Germany and taken to Königsberg for reconstruction and display. However, with Allied forces closing in on Germany, the room was disassembled and crated for storage in the castle basement. Königsberg was destroyed by Allied bombers in August 1944, and the fate of the Amber Room remains a mystery.
In 1979, a reconstructed Amber Room was created at the Catherine Palace using two original items: a box of relics from the room and 86 black-and-white photos taken before World War II. The reconstructed room was completed and installed in the palace in 2003.
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Trophy Brigades and the Red Army
During World War II, the Nazis plundered art and cultural property from across Europe, including from Russia. In response to this, and to compensate for their own cultural losses, the Soviets formed the Extraordinary State Commission in 1942, also known as the Trophy Commission, which led the Trophy Brigades behind the front line. The Trophy Brigades were tasked with removing valuables, including artworks, from occupied territories (including Germany) and taking them back to the Soviet Union. These artworks were often hidden away, but some were donated to the government of East Germany between 1955 and 1958 as a gesture of goodwill.
The Trophy Brigades were formed in 1944 under Georgy Malenkov and were made up of members of the Red Army. They were charged with removing and relocating factories, manufactured goods, raw materials, livestock, farm machinery, crops, laboratories, libraries, museums, and scientific archives from all of Soviet-occupied Eastern Europe. The literature confiscated by the Trophy Brigades, known as the "'State Agency for Literature' or "Gosfond", was transported to Soviet state libraries and cultural institutions. However, the Agency became overwhelmed with the number of books sent from Germany, and many works ended up in storage.
The Trophy Brigades also targeted artworks, with the plunder of artwork directed by Igor Grabar of the Bureau of Experts. Grabar had requested the formation of the Bureau of Experts in 1943, with the task of composing lists of "eventual equivalents", or European masterpieces that would serve as substitutes for the works that had been lost or destroyed by the Nazis. Once seized, these artworks were meant to be displayed in Stalin's planned Museum of World Art. By the time the Trophy Brigades had finished sweeping the state museums and private collections in the Soviet Occupation zone, they had claimed an estimated 2.5 million artworks and 10 million books and manuscripts.
The existence of these artworks remained a secret until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and their status remains unclear. Many of the paintings seized by the Red Army were by famous Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists, including Degas, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Daumier, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, and Van Gogh. While some argue that the work of the Trophy Brigades was theft, others see it as restitution for the cultural losses inflicted by the Nazis.
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Nazi looting of Russia
During World War II, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, known as Operation Barbarossa, resulted in the displacement of millions of people and the seizure of vast amounts of cultural, industrial, and personal property. This included artworks, museum collections, industrial equipment, and household goods. Nazi looting organizations, such as the ERR, Führermuseum, and Dienststelle Mühlmann, operated in Russia and other occupied countries, confiscating art objects, many of which ended up in the hands of Nazi leaders like Hermann Goring.
The scale of Nazi plunder in the USSR was immense, and the Soviet State Extraordinary Commission was formed in 1942 to investigate and document these crimes. The Commission found that 427 Soviet museums had been damaged, with 64 of the most valuable ones sustaining significant harm. The true extent of the looting may never be fully known due to poor documentation and coordination among the Soviet "trophy brigades" involved in the seizures.
After the war, the Allies attempted to facilitate restitution to the USSR. U.S. authorities returned over half a million cultural treasures and a quarter of a million books that had been looted by the Nazis. However, the Soviet Union also engaged in widespread looting of German museums, castles, and salt mines, taking millions of cultural artefacts as "compensatory restitution." This led to a complex situation where both sides had legitimate claims for restitution, and the issue of Nazi-looted art became a contentious and unresolved matter.
Even today, the return of twice-looted cultural treasures from Russia remains a sensitive topic. While some Russian institutions have acknowledged the existence of seized artworks, the Russian government has often denied or blocked their return, citing justifications of cultural compensation and national pride. The debate surrounding these looted artefacts reflects the complex historical consequences of World War II and the ongoing reconciliation of ownership and restitution.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, Russia still has paintings that were seized from Germany by the Red Army at the end of World War II. These paintings were taken from private collections and museums in Germany and were displayed in Russia for the first time in the 1990s.
The paintings seized include works by world-renowned Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists such as Degas, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh.
Yes, Russia has returned some paintings to Germany. In 1955, the USSR returned "The Abduction of Ganymede" by Rembrandt van Rijn to the government of East Germany. In 2017, Russia and Germany traded 101 drawings and paintings for a fragment of the Amber Room, which had disappeared from a palace in St. Petersburg during World War II.
