Post-War Reports:
Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and Names Index
Research Resources
Title
OSS (USS Office of Strategic Services) Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and Names Index
Description
In 1944 the US government created a special intelligence unit dealing with looted art which was formed and administered by the OSS. In the course of 1945 and 1946, this Unit, named the Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU), produced 16 printed reports.
A Names Index listing all those individuals, dealers and agencies who appear in any of these reports is available here. The Names Index can also be searched on this site by clicking on the ‘Search’ button and typing a name into the Information Search box.
In 1944 the US government created a special intelligence unit dealing with looted art which was formed and administered by the OSS. In the course of 1945 and 1946, this Unit, named the Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU), produced 16 printed reports.
A Names Index listing all those individuals, dealers and agencies who appear in any of these reports is available here. The Names Index can also be searched on this site by clicking on the ‘Search’ button and typing a name into the Information Search box.
The ALIU reports fall into three types:
One set of reports are called Detailed Intelligence Reports (DIR). This series consists of reports dealing with the activities of various agents employed by Hitler, Göring and Rosenberg to acquire artworks for them in Axis-occupied countries. DIR No. 8 on Kajetan Muehlmann was not issued. DIR No.14 on the activities of Maria Dietrich was planned. It was not issued, but a full accounting of her activities was incorporated into Consolidated Interrogation Report No. 4. Also, a DIR No. 15 on Rose Bauer, Muehlmann's secretary, was contemplated but not issued. The reports are listed below:
- No. 1 Heinrich Hoffman, July 1945 (6 pp)
- No. 2 Ernst Buchner, July 1945 (34 pp)
- No. 3 Robert Scholz, August 1945 (5 pp)
- No. 4 Gustav Rochlitz, August 1945 (13 pp)
- No. 5 Gunther Schiedlausky, August 1945 (4 pp)
- No. 6 Bruno Lohse, August 1945 (15 pp)
- No. 7 Gisela Limberger, September 1945 (5 pp)
- No. 9 Walter Andreas Hofer, September 1945 (20 pp)
- No. 10 Karl Kress, August 1945 (3 pp)
- No. 11 Walter Bornheim, September 1945 (ca. 30 pp)
- No. 12 Herman Voss, September 1945 (28 pp)
- No. 13 Karl Haberstock, May 1946 (5 pp)
The second set of reports were called Consolidated Interrogation Reports (CIR). This series consists of reports dealing with the art-looting activities of Göring and the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), and with Hitler's Museum and Library in Linz. CIR No. 3 on German methods of acquisition was planned but not issued.
- No. 1 Activity of The Einsatzstab Rosenberg in France, August 1945 (57 pp and ca. 50 pp of appendices)
- No. 2 The Goering Collection, September 1945 (176 pp and ca. 150 pp of appendices)
- No. 4 Linz: Hitler's Museum and Library, December 1945 (87 pp and ca. 200 pp of appendices)
In May 1946 the ALIU issued a Final Report.
Michael Hussey, Michael J. Kurtz, and Greg Bradsher at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) at Washington DC arranged and processed the ALIU records for microfilming and prepared a descriptive pamphlet about them which is available here.
All Reports are available on microfilm from NARA:
- DIRs are available on NARA Microfilm Publications M1782, Roll 1, and M1944, Roll 94.
- CIRs are available on NARA Microfilm Publications M1782, Roll 1, and M1944, Rolls 94–95. M1944 also includes records relating to the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas (The Roberts Commission) 1943-1946. To read the associated background pamphlet, please click here.
- The Final Report is available on NARA Microfilm Publications M1782, Roll 1, and M1944, Roll 22.
Source
NARA http://www.archives.gov/research/holocaust/art/ accessed 4 February 2008
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