“There are a great many of the oldest ikons, works of famous masters of the German, Dutch and Italian schools of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, as well as works of the best Russian artists of the 18th and 19th centuries. On the whole, the contents include the most valuable works of the known Ukrainian art possession, which in themselves represent a value of many millions after a cursory appraisal.” (055-PS)
Attached to the above report is a detailed inventory listing hundreds of individual objects.
Additional evidence as to the extent of material seized in Kiev is found in a secret note, 17 June 1944, dealing with measures taken prior to the Russian Occupation. The note reported the taking of materials from museums, archives, institutions, etc., during the autumn of 1943 on the order of the Einsatzstab and of the Reichs-commissar. During October there were sent to the Reich 40 railway trucks, carrying mostly goods belonging to the Central Research Institute of the Ukraine. The report concluded with the statement that when the Soviets entered the town nothing of value was left. (1109-PS)
On 28 September 1941, the General Commissar for White Ruthenia reported the seizure of art treasures in the area of Minsk, destined for Konigsberg and Linz. The value of these confiscations was stated to amount to millions of marks. (1099-PS)
(4) Works of Art (West). The Robert Scholz report declared that:
“During the period from March 1941 to July 1944, the Special Staff for Pictorial Art brought into the Reich:
29 large shipments including 137 freight cars with 4,174 cases of art works.” (1015-B-PS)
The report stated that a total of 21,903 art objects of all types had been counted and inventoried, and stated:
“With this scientific inventory of a material unique in its scope and importance and of a value hitherto unknown to art research, the Special Staff for Pictorial Art has conducted a work important to the entire field of art. This inventory work will form the basis of an all-inclusive scientific catalog in which should be recorded history, scope and scientific and political significance of this historically unique art seizure.” (1015-B-PS)
The following is a summary of the inventory attached to the report:
| Paintings | 10,890 |
| Plastics | 583 |
| Furniture | 2,477 |
| Textiles | 583 |
| Hand-made art objects | 5,825 |
| East Asiatic objects | 1,286 |
| Antiquities | 259 |
| ——— | |
| Total | 21,903 |
| (1015-B-PS) |