Mary Magdalene by Cranach. Göring was especially fond of Cranach’s work and owned many paintings by him.
The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine by David was one of the finest in the Göring Collection.
Diana, an exquisite Boucher acquired by Göring from the Rothschild Collection, has been returned to France.
Atalanta and Meleager by Rubens, found in the Göring Collection, was from the Goudstikker Collection of Amsterdam.
That night we held a conference in George’s room. He was to go to Munich the next morning with the convoy to supervise the unloading of the Madonna and the “Lamb” at the depot. He expected to come back directly, but might have to go on up to Frankfurt. He mapped out the work he wanted us to do while he was away. In addition to the job at the mine, there was a special one down at Bad Ischl. A series of famous panels by Albrecht Altdorfer, one of the greatest German painters of the fifteenth century, was stored on the second floor of a highly combustible old inn. These panels were among his finest works and belonged to the monastery of St. Florian outside Linz. Fifty or sixty pieces of sculpture—mostly polychromed wood figures, fifteenth century Gothic—also the property of the monastery, were stored there too. George thought we’d better figure on two trucks. We were to pick up the stuff, bring it back to the mine and then send it to Munich with the next convoy.
We made notations of what he had told us, and then Steve produced drinks—something of an occasion, for liquor was hard to come by at the mine. Somehow he had got hold of a bottle of cognac and insisted on making “Alpine Specials.” This was a drink consisting of a jigger of cognac and an equal amount of a pink syrupy liquid resembling grenadine. Steve prized the syrup. Eder, the chemical engineer at the mine, had concocted it especially for him. The mixture made a drink of dubious merit. We drank to the success of George’s trip to Munich.
The convoy got off early the next morning. Lamont and I went down with George as far as the village. Two half-tracks were waiting to escort the trucks to Munich. They were equipped with radios for intercommunication, in case of delays along the way. Between Alt Aussee and Salzburg, the road led through isolated country. Conditions were as yet far from settled. Small bands of SS troops still lurked in the mountains. The half-tracks weren’t just going along for the ride.