DR. STEINBAUER: So it was not the German offices, but the Dutch offices headed by the Dutch secretaries general?
WIMMER: Yes. They also were authorized to do this by a special decree.
DR. STEINBAUER: Did the Reich Commissioner or his offices take anything from the large museums?
WIMMER: I did not quite understand that. From where?
DR. STEINBAUER: From the public museums.
WIMMER: No. I do not recall a single case, and I would have had to know about it because the museums were under me.
DR. STEINBAUER: Yes, that is why I asked you. Were there possibly any archives that were carried away?
WIMMER: In general, no; but an exchange of archives was probably worked out during the occupation, which had been under consideration even before the war. There was an exchange of archives between, in particular, the “Hausarchiv,” but also other Dutch archives, and German archives, and—to be exact, this was done according to where they came from—on the so-called principle of origin.
DR. STEINBAUER: Was it possible for everybody to confiscate what he wanted, or was that controlled in any way?
WIMMER: No, that was controlled, and the respective regulations were again repeated in an especially stern decree of the Reich Commissioner during the last year. Those who transgressed or intended to transgress these regulations were given serious warning. There were only two agencies which, according to the decree, were allowed to carry out confiscations at all, and these were the Police and the Armed Forces.