I come now to the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, the Operational Staff Rosenberg.
No less than three prosecutors have taken the stand in this Trial against Rosenberg, and have accused him of wholesale stealing of objects of art and science in the East and West (Storey, 18 December 1945; Gerthoffer, 6 February 1946; Smirnov, 15 February 1946). First I must take exception to some obvious exaggerations and injustices, that is, the assertion that the activities of the special staff in the West extended to public and private property without distinction (Volume VII, Page 55), and that the objects of art Germany appropriated amount to more than the combined treasures of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, of the British Museum in London, of the Louvre in Paris, and of the Tretjakov Gallery. Further, I must declare the statement incorrect that the “looting program” of Rosenberg was intended to rob the occupied countries of their entire centuries-old possessions of art and science. Finally, the Prosecution contrasts Rosenberg’s actions to the looting of art treasures in former wars. It says that while egotism, conceit, taste, and personal inclination used to be the underlying motives of such looting, the National Socialists primarily had the criminal intention of storing up reserves of valuables (Volume VII, Page 65). I think it unnecessary to refer to the looting of art treasures in former times as far back as Napoleon, because the concepts of international law and regulations have changed in the meantime, but I should like to mention two things:
First, how many of the most famous objects of art in the most famous galleries of the world got there through the channels of war and how many got there in a peaceful way?
Second, I am prepared to accept the fact that the Prosecution denies Rosenberg’s delight in art, or joy in the possession of art treasures as a possible motive for his actions, because Rosenberg was no robber, no plunderer, of art. He had no intention of appropriating the objects of art for himself or for someone else.
What were the actual facts? Rosenberg’s operational staff was active in the East and in the West. It had two tasks: First, to search libraries, archives, et cetera, for material suitable for the proposed “university” of the Party, to confiscate this material and take it away for the purpose of research, and secondly, to seize objects of cultural value which were in the possession of or which belonged to Jews, or which had no owner or were of a doubtful origin. The Prosecution says: “The true and only motive, the true and only purpose of this ‘seizure’ was robbery and looting; there could be no question of intentions of mere ‘safeguarding.’ ”
On 20 August 1941 Rosenberg wrote to the Reich Commissioner Ostland that he wished distinctly to prohibit the transfer of any kind of art treasure from any place whatsoever without the approval of the Reich Commissioner (Document Number 1015(c)-PS). On 30 September 1942 the Commander-in-Chief of the Army issued an order (Document Number 1015(n)-PS) in agreement with Rosenberg to the following effect:
“Apart from exceptional cases when it is urgent to safeguard endangered objects of cultural value, it is desired that for the time being such objects be left where they are.”
Later on, it says:
“The troops and all military commands within the operational area are now as before directed to spare valuable cultural monuments as far as possible and to prevent their destruction or damage.”
In the report of the Special Staff for Creative Arts (report on work carried out between October 1940 and 1944, Document Number 1015(b)-PS) it is stated that in the Occupied Eastern Territories the activities of the Special Staff for Creative Arts were restricted to the scientific and photographic registration of official collections, and that the safeguarding and protection of these was carried out in co-operation with the military and civilian agencies. It says further that in the course of vacating the territories, several hundred valuable icons and paintings, et cetera, were saved and, with the co-operation of the individual army groups, were brought to a place of safekeeping in the Reich. Finally, on 12 June 1942 Rosenberg sent out the following decree in a circular letter to the highest Reich authorities, which reads: