| TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1099-PS Source:Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression. Volume III USGPO, Washington, 1946/pp.781-782 Communication from the Commissar for White
Ruthenia, Kube, to Rosenberg, Commissar General for White Ruthenia
To: The Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, Personal My dear Party Comrade Reichsleiter Rosenberg ! Only today, after extensive investigations, was I able to locate the rest of the art treasures in Minsk and store them away in a safe place. Minsk had a large, in part very valuable, collection of art treasures and paintings which were removed almost in their entirety. On an order of the Reichsfuehrer SS, Reichsleiter Heinrich Himmler, most of the paintings, some still during my term of ofice, were packed by the SS and shipped to the Reich. They are worth several millions of marks and were all taken from the general district of White Ruthenia. The paintings were supposedly sent to Linz and to Koenigsberg in East Prussia. I beg to have these valuable collections, insofar as they are not needed in the Reich, again placed at the disposal of the general district of White Ruthenia, in any case, however, to have the money value secured for the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. According to the report made by a Major of the 707th Division who today handed the remaining treasures over to me, the SS has left the rest of the paintings and works of art to the Wehrmacht for further pillaging, including very valuable paintings and furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries, vases, marble objects, clocks, etc. General Stubenrauch has taken a valuable part from Minsk with him up to the front. "Sonderfuehrer" whose names have not yet been reported to me, have carried away furniture, paintings and art objects * * * in 3 trucks, without giving a receipt. I shall ascertain which unit it was, in order to carry out the punishment of those who have made themselves guilty of looting. From the material that was left, local authorities of the Wehrmacht and of the SS took away more art treasures and paintings without my permission; those, however, may still be found in Minsk. I request that the national socialist painter, Willi Springer, Berlin SW 29, Hasenheide 94, be sent here to restore those paintings which were in part thoughtlessly damaged by knife slashings, so that under his supervision whatever can still be salvaged, should be salvaged. Unfortunately, many valuable vases, china, cupboards, and period furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries were also badly damaged or destroyed. Altogether it is a question of irreplaceable valuables worth millions of marks. I request that for the future the Ministry for Eastern Affairs take action with the competent authorities of the Wehrmacht so that such vandalism be stopped and that those responsible to be threatened with the heaviest possible punishment and that such punishment be inflicted if necessary. The prehistoric museum also is in a completely devastated state. Valuable precious and semiprecious stones were stolen from the geological section. At the university, instruments worth hundreds of thousands of marks were thoughtlessly destroyed or stolen. May I suggest, my dear Reichsleiter, that you report these events to the Fuehrer? White Ruthenia, already rather poor, has suffered a heavy loss through these actions. I hope that specialists will be employed in Leningrad, and in Moscow, as well as in the old cultural cities in the Ukraine, to prevent occurrences of this kind; otherwise the civilian administration shall find everywhere the same devastation as was found here. Heil Hitler ! |
Document compiled by Dr S D SteinESS Home Page