Salt mines and castles: The discovery and restitution of looted European art

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Washington
May 22, 1946

My dear Mrs. Force and Dr. Clapp:

I have received your letter of May 9, 1946, and its enclosed resolution, signed by 95 of your colleagues, urging the President to order the immediate safe return to Germany of the 200 paintings which were brought to this country last year.

When these paintings were found by our forces in southern Germany every effort was made to assure their preservation. It soon became evident that adequate facilities and personnel to ensure their safe keeping could not be guaranteed. Consequently our military authorities, realizing the magnitude of their responsibility in preserving these priceless treasures, requested that they be relieved of this heavy responsibility and that the paintings be shipped to this country where they could be properly cared for. This Government reluctantly gave its approval to this request, knowing that such action would lead to criticism of its motives. The decision was taken because there seemed no other way to ensure preservation of these unique works of art. In order to dispel doubts as to the reasons for this action the White House released a statement to the press on September 26, 1945, which explained the situation and included a pledge that the paintings would be returned to their rightful owners. That pledge still holds good and while a definite date for the return of the paintings to Germany has not as yet been set, you may rest assured that this will be done as soon as conditions warrant.

The resolution also recommended that plans to exhibit these paintings in this country be cancelled and that further shipments of German works of art to this country be countermanded. I have never heard of any plans to make additional shipments of works of art from Germany to the United States nor do I know of any plans to exhibit the paintings which are now in this country.

Sincerely yours,

For the Secretary of State:

(signed) Dean Acheson
Under Secretary.

June 3, 1946

My dear Mr. President:

Permit us to thank you for your kind attention to the resolution, signed by us and ninety-five of our colleagues prominent on the staffs of museums or experts in the history and preservation of art, relative to the shipment to this country of two hundred famous paintings formerly in the Kaiser Friedrich and other museums of Berlin.

In addressing the resolution in question to you we felt that we were following the time-honored American custom of bringing to our government’s attention a consensus of opinion on the part of those who have special practical familiarity with old pictures and personal, sometimes long, acquaintance with European history and culture in its emotional and intellectual aspects.

Should you, in the course of events, undertake further inquiries into the problem created by the shipment referred to in our resolution, we shall be happy to be so informed.

Respectfully yours,

June 3, 1946

Dear Mr. Hassett:

In reply to your letter of the twenty-second permit us to say that should the President make further inquiries into the subject covered by our resolution with reference to two hundred pictures selected chiefly from the collections of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum and brought to this country, we should be pleased to be kept informed.

We, and our ninety-five colleagues in museums and universities who have had long experience with old paintings and are interested in the history and preservation of works of art, would also be glad to know when the pictures referred to are returned to Germany since we are as yet uninformed whether the conditions which are held not to warrant their return are of a practical or a political nature.

This question obviously cannot but be uppermost in our minds in view of the fact that present conditions in Germany are apparently such as to warrant leaving there thousands of German-owned works of art of great moment which belong not only to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum but to the museums of other cities in the American zone, including the great collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, where under satisfactory conditions and auspices an exhibition of early German art, including masterpieces by Dürer, Grünewald and others, is now being held.

It is in fact one of our perplexities that we have never been told why our officials discriminated against important pictures and art objects (many times the number of those urgently transported to this country for safekeeping) which were also formerly in the Kaiser Friedrich and other museums, not forgetting those which were in South German churches. Were they just left to their fate?

If it were convenient at any time to pass on to the President our continued anxieties on these important points we should be happy to have you do so.

Sincerely yours,

June 3, 1946

Dear Mr. Acheson:

In reply to your letter of the twenty-second with reference to our resolution supported by the signatures of ninety-five of our colleagues prominent in museums or experts in the history and preservation of old masters and other works of art, permit us to say that, in the absence of Secretary Byrnes, we took the liberty of sending you the resolution.

We are aware of the statement released by the White House on September 26, 1945 explaining the situation and promising to return the pictures to Germany when conditions there should warrant such action. We are, however, still uninformed why the unanimous advice of the monuments officers, who had special training and technical knowledge not only of the conditions required for the preservation of old masters but of the certain dangers to which journeys subject them, was disregarded.

We have also never been told whether the conditions believed to jeopardize the safety of these important pictures were of a practical or of a political nature. Neither do we know why, out of the great and extensive collections of the Kaiser Friedrich only two hundred pictures were selected nor by whom the selection was made. More serious still no official mention has ever been made of the fact that there were in the possession of the other museums of Berlin and other cities, including the famous collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, as well as in the churches of the American Zone, art objects and pictures many times more numerous than the paintings actually brought to this country for safekeeping. One cannot but ask: Were satisfactory conditions found for them or were they merely left to their fate?

These are questions that have given and still give rise to rumors, unhappy conjectures and ambiguous interpretations which we deplore. Unreasonably or otherwise the whole situation is confused by implications that we feel will not be laid until the pictures deposited in Washington have been sent back with the least possible delay to their rightful owners on whom devolves an unequivocable responsibility for their care and preservation.

Sincerely yours,