Aug 5, 2022

Correspondence regarding looted works of art in Switzerland 1945-6 UK Archives

Interesting sources available in the UK Archives for Nazi looted art.

FO 371/45771/21

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C13370847

Registry Number: UE 6318/123/77. 

Correspondence regarding looted works of art currently in Switzerland, dated October 1945 - January 1946. 

Letter from Dr Hohl at the Département Politique Fédéral [Division des Affaires Etrangères] in Berne to Monsieur Gerald H Selous at the British Legation in Berne [in French], dated 9 November 1945. 

Letter from Monsieur Selous to Dr Hohl concerning German assets in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, dated 29 October 1945. 

Letter from the British Legation in Berne to the Economic Warfare Department, dated 10 November 1945, enclosing a copy of Cooper's unofficial Memorandum, entitled 'Note of a Meeting at the Federal Political Department on 7th November 1945', stating that the Swiss government had decided 'that use had to be made of its "special power" [...] to deal with adjudicate on claims for loot, and that a decree was in preparation to set up a tribunal. The compensation aspect was a purely Swiss problem and that was being studied'. Further states that no action is required from the Federal Political Department regarding Buhrle, Wiederkehr, Kyler, Borment and Wotruba, thorough questioning is required for Andre Martin, Alex von Frey, George Schmidt, Neupert, Tanner, Aktuaryus, Skira, Dr Willy Raeber,and serious investigation of Galerie Fischer, Galerie Schmidlin and Dr Hans Wendland would be necessary. Includes the unofficial 'Memorandum to Federal Political Department in Connection with the Questioning of certain Persons known to have dealt in Looted Works of Art' by Cooper, handed to the Federal Political Department, giving brief statements on Andre Martin, Alexander von Frey, George Schmidt, Neupert, Tanner, Dr Willy Raeber, Aetuaryus and Albert Skira, dated 8 November 1946. Letter from the British Legation in Berne to the Economic Warfare Department concerning German assets in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, dated 29 October 1945. States that the Swiss are becoming increasingly active in restitution of works of art currently held in Switzerland, and are about to set up a court to facilitate restitution. 

Letter from the British Legation in Berne to the Economic Warfare Department, addressing the matter of looted works of art in Switzerland, dated 5 November 1945. No reference to specific suspects or pictures. 

Letter [in French] from Dr Hohl at the Département Politique Fédéral [Division des Affaires Etrangères] in Berne to Gerald H Selous at the British Legation in Berne on this matter, dated 31 October 1945. The letter makes specific reference to Fischer, Wiederkehr, Wendland and Truessel. 

Report of a Meeting at the Federal Political Department on 2 November 1945, dated 5 November 1945. Present at the meeting were Legationsrat Dr Daenicker, Dr Vodoz of the Department of the Interior, Dr de Rame of the FPD, Dr Max Huggler, Director of the Kunstmuseum in Bern, Theodore Fischer of Lucerne and his son, and Mr Douglas Cooper

Letter from the British Legation in Berne to the Economic Warfare Department at the Foreign Office, relating to the procedure for restitution of looted property, dated 15 January 1946. Refers to 'those pictures belonging to Rosenberg which were found to be in Fischer's possession and which the latter surrendered to the custodianship of the Berne Museum'.

Date: 1945 October 29 - 1946 January 15

Held by: The National Archives, Kew

Legal status: Public Record(s)

Language: English

Closure status: Open Document, Open Description

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