SECRET
Copy
Supreme Command of the Armed Forces Az.Zf.285 (G-3) Nr. 1838/40
Berlin W 35, Tirpitzufer 72-76 30 Oct. 1940
Tel. local 218191, long distance 218091 To: The Armed Forces Commander in the Netherlands
In supplement to the order of the Fuehrer transmitted, under Nr 2850/40 secret Adj. Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, of 5.7.1940, to Reichsleiter Rosenberg, to search lodges, libraries and archives of the occupied territories of the West, for material valuable to Germany, and to safeguard the latter through the Gestapo, the Fuehrer has decided:
187
140—PS
140—PS
The ownership status before the war in France, prior to the declaration of war on 1 Sept. 1939, shall be the criterion.
Ownership transfers to the French state or similar transfers completed after this date are irrelevant and legally invalid (for example, Polish and Slovak libraries in Paris, possessions of the Palais Rothschild or other ownerless Jewish possessions). Reservations regarding search, seizure and transportation to Germany on the basis of the above reasons will not be recognized.
Reichsleiter Rosenberg and/or his deputy Reichshauptstellenleiter Ebert has received clear instructions from the Fuehrer personally governing the right of seizure, he is entitled to transport to Germany cultural goods which appear valuable to him and to safeguard them there. The Fuehrer has reserved for himself the decision as to their use.
It is requested that the services in question be informed correspondingly.
The Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces
By order
Signed: REINECKE
Certified a true copy Berlin 15 Dec 1943 (Dr. Zeiss)
Chief of special purpose staff
For information:
Attention Adj. of Reichleiter Rosenberg Re Nr 2606/Ma
signed Reinecke
[Rosenberg's Special Purpose Staff SEAL]
Letter to the military commander in the Netherland's on Rosenberg's program to seize "material valuable to Germany" in the western occupied territories
Authors
Wilhelm Keitel (Field Marshal, Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces)
Wilhelm Keitel
German field marshal
- Born: 1882-09-22 (Helmscherode) (country: German Empire; located in the administrative territorial entity: Duchy of Brunswick)
- Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg) (country: Allied-occupied Germany)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: military officer; military personnel; politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Military rank: general field marshal
- Military branch: artillery
- VIAF ID: https://viaf.org/viaf/74027425
Hermann Reinecke (infantry general; army command staff; honorary judge, People's Court)
Hermann Reinecke
German general (1888-1973)
- Born: 1888-02-14 (Lutherstadt Wittenberg)
- Died: 1973-10-10 (Hamburg)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: judge; military officer; politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Participant in: Judges' Trial (date: 1947-04-29; role: affiant)
- Military rank: General of the Infantry
- Military branch: infantry
Date: 30 October 1940
Defendants: Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Rosenberg
Total Pages: 1
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-140
HLSL Item No.: 451240
Notes:Reinecke signed the letter for Keitel. This document was not introduced as evidence.