That coincides with what I have said in my previous statements.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And would you care to read further?
GÖRING: You mean where it says:
“Besides this special train, the main art objects selected by the Reich Marshal—mainly from the Rothschild collection—had previously been shipped in two special cars to Munich and were there put into the air raid shelter of the Führerhaus.”
They are those most precious works of art which I had designated for the Führer, and which were to be sent, at the wish of the Führer, to the air raid shelter. This had nothing to do directly with my affairs, but I did not dispute the fact, and I have explained it in detail.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: When you were examined by the American Foreign Assets Commission, you estimated your art objects as having a value, at the time you turned them over to the government, of 50 million Reichsmark, as I recall it. Am I right?
GÖRING: That is not quite correct. The Commission insisted on a valuation, and the discussion continued a long time backwards and forward. I expressly told the Commission that I could not assess the value because I did not have the objects in hand nor a list of them, and I could not quote them from memory; furthermore, that the estimates were subject to fluctuation depending on the one hand upon the prices art lovers might pay and, on the other, upon the actual market value. Since I did not see a copy of the minutes, in spite of my pleas, and especially as minutes of this nature often give rise to misunderstandings, I can only acknowledge the records which I have signed.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, do you question this fact? “When I gave the news to the Minister of Finance I estimated the value at that time at 50 million marks.” Did you say that or did you not?
GÖRING: I cannot estimate the value. I only told the Finance Minister that the entire collection, including my own, would be turned over to the State. And since I know my passion for collecting, I thought that it was quite possible that something might suddenly happen to me, and that as I had put my entire fortune into these works of art, the entire collection might possibly become State, that is, public property, and my family would thus be deprived of every means of subsistence. I therefore asked him to provide for a pension or some compensation for my family. That was the negotiation with the Finance Minister, to which he can testify.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: What proportion of your art collection was acquired after 1933?